Development and Experimental Validation of a Physics-Based Identification and Mitigation Strategy for Torsional Vibratory Behavior in Medium-Duty Commercial Vehicle Drivelines

<div>Torsional vibration generated during operation of commercial vehicles can negatively affect the life of driveline components, including the transmission, driveshafts, and rear axle. Undesirable vibrations typically stem from off-specification parts, or excitation at one or more system resonant frequencies. The solution for the former involves getting the system components within specification. As for the latter, the solution involves avoiding excitation at resonance, or modifying the parameters to move the system’s resonant frequencies outside the range of operation through component changes that modify one, or more, component inertia, stiffness, or damping characteristics. One goal of the effort described in this article is to propose, and experimentally demonstrate, a physics-based gear-shifting algorithm that prevents excitation of the system’s resonant frequency if it lies in the vehicle’s range of operation. To guide that effort, analysis was conducted with a numerical simulation model incorporating nonlinear driveline dynamics resulting from engine operation (including misfire and cylinder deactivation), excitation from multiple universal joints, the transmission, and a vehicle speed feedback controller, a contribution the authors have not seen in the pre-existing literature. The experimentally validated simulation results demonstrate that the torsional oscillating mode corresponding to the torque converter or turbine exhibits sensitivity to clutch activation, and variations in system parameters. Consequently, variation in system parameters alters the natural frequency of the system, potentially aligning it with the vehicle’s operational frequency range in specific gear ranges. Experimental on-road tests, described here, demonstrate that for the truck-under-test one of the natural frequencies of the system is within the range of operation for gears 4, 5, and 6 for certain vehicle speeds. Resonance in these gears was successfully prevented, and experimentally demonstrated, by using the proposed algorithm without sacrificing the performance of the vehicle.</div>