Modeling and Analysis of Clutch Nonlinear Behavior in an Automotive Driveline for Suppressing Torsional Vibration

Abstract

Torsional vibration of the automotive driveline has significant influence on driving comfort. This study investigates the influence of clutch nonlinear behaviors on the torsional vibration of the driveline with numerical and experimental methods. A generic automobile powertrain model with 7 degrees of freedom is proposed considering the transient engine torque, the nonlinear characteristics of multi-stage clutch and tire slip. Taking a commercial vehicle as an example, the dynamic behaviors and inherent characteristics of the driveline system are calculated and analyzed. Based on the proposed model, the influences of the clutch parameters on driveline torsional vibration are investigated. In order to validate the proposed model and the analytical results, an optimized clutch is designed and the experiments of torsional vibration are conducted with the prototype and the optimized clutch. The analytical and experimental results demonstrate that an increase in the first end-stop angle and the main-stage hysteresis or a decrease in the second end-stop angle and the main-stage stiffness of the clutch can effectively suppress driveline torsional vibration during vehicle accelerating.