Efficient Component-Based Vibration and Power Flow Analysis of a Vehicle Structure

Abstract

A case study on the efficient prediction of vibration and power flow in a vehicle structure is presented. The modeling and analysis technique is based on component mode synthesis (CMS). First, the finite element model (FEM) of the entire vehicle structure is partitioned into component models. Then, the Craig-Bampton method is used to assemble a CMS model of the vehicle. The CMS matrices are further reduced by finding characteristic constraint (CC) modes. A relatively small number of CC modes are selected to capture the primary motion of the interface between components, yielding a highly reduced order model of the vehicle vibration in the low- to mid-frequency range. Using this reduced order model (ROM), the power flow and vibration response of the vehicle is analyzed for several design configurations. A design change in one component structure requires a re-analysis of the FEM for that component only, in order to generate a new ROM of the entire vehicle. It is found that this component-based approach allows efficient evaluation of the effectiveness of the vehicle design changes.