In recent years, due to a need to reduce emissions, the automotive industry has focused on increasing vehicle efficiency. One of the areas being examined for potential improvement is the automatic transmission; specifically, the torque converter clutch damper. The better the performance of the damper, the more time the torque converter can be kept in the optimum locked position, thus increasing vehicle efficiency. Currently a large number of vehicle manufacturers use transmission technology sourced from external OEMs; due to a lack of available performance data or validated simulations, sometimes vehicle manufacturers are not able to fully understand the behaviour of the damper. If damper performance (or interactions with other components) cannot be fully assessed during the design development phase, key issues may become known too late in the development process. Thus a deeper understanding of the processes of experimentally characterising and simulating torque converter dampers is required. This thesis describes the development of an arc spring torque converter damper simulation, including the gathering of the experimental data required to validate the simulation. The simulation is used to draw conclusions on the impact of excitation signal form on damper behaviour, leading to new knowledge on the signals required to experimentally characterise a damper. In this thesis a methodology for (and implementation of) the characterisation of torque converter dampers is detailed. It was found that existing available technologies (e.g. fired engines, electric dynamometers) were either too inflexible or prohibitively expensive; thus a novel high frequency mechanical pulsation generator was developed. This solution was developed from a 4 cylinder motored diesel engine; the cylinders are filled with compressed air and the crankshaft driven using an electric dynamometer. Simulation and experimental data has confirmed that mean torque can be controlled using the input dynamometer, with the compressed air producing fluctuations of up to 900Nm amplitude. However, it was found that the frequency of the output pulsations varied from a fired engine; this is due to reactions between the pulsation generator and the stiffness and inertias of other components on the rig. A review of the performance of the novel pulsation generation concept against other damper excitation methods was also conducted. It was determined that fired engines and electric motors are more suitable for durability testing; the flexibility of the electric motors and the low running costs of the pulsation generator suit damper performance tests. The second phase of this project was to develop a simulation of a two-stage arc spring turbine damper. This damper consists of three inertias, separated by two spring sets; the outer spring set has 3 individual arc springs, while the inner spring set has 5 nested pairs. The principle of conservation of angular momentum is applied to each of the three inertias in order to calculate their individual accelerations. This method is also applied when calculating the acceleration and movement of the springs; the arc springs are discretised into mass and (massless) spring segments. Two features not previously seen in literature are included in the simulation; hardstops and nested springs. The physical hardstops limit the movement of the spring sets (relative movements of the inertias). In this study, the nested springs were simulated as a pair of parallel springs, rather than as a single stiffer arc spring; this is due to the friction that occurs between the springs (the inner race of the larger spring forms the housing for the inner spring). These two features highlight the need for hardware examination before simulation development; disassembling the hardware also allows the location of hardstops (and other features) to be measured rather than relying on the test data. Once a damper simulation was designed, a methodology for simulation parameterisation was required; parameterisation is the process of improving simulation performance through iterations of estimated parameters. The simulated damper was excited using sampled experimental data; to maximise parameterisation process efficiency, each time a parameter change was made, a set of key test points were selected in order to assess simulation performance change. It is not recommended that single test points be examined individually; parameter changes may improve simulation performance at one test point but have an adverse reaction at another. A clear causal relationship between simulation timestep and accuracy (as well as simulation run time) was found; a link between the number of discretised segments and simulation accuracy (and run time) was also confirmed. It was determined that 8 segments was optimal for the inner springs and 18 outer segments offered the best balance between computing power and simulation time. A variety of methods for analysing damper (and simulation) performance are presented in this thesis; it was found that for the 2.5 bar torque curve experimental data set the simulation performs excellently, with on average less than 5% error. Overall torque error is less than 10% across the tested speed range (900 to 2800rpm), with mean torque differences between simulated and tested order magnitudes of less than 5Nm. It has been determined that hysteresis loops are not an accurate predictor of real-world damper performance; while they can approximate general trends, they do not cover the normal operating condition. In the final phase of this thesis, the validated simulation has been used to investigate excitation signal, areas of poor damper performance and the link between speed and damper stiffness. By subjecting the simulation to a variety of sinusoidal input signals, it was established that if a sinusoidal signal approximates the 3 most dominant frequencies in a real signal, the damper will behave in a representative manner. Additional orders that have lower frequencies than the dominant order will have a greater impact on the attenuation behaviour of the damper; the effect of additional orders on attenuation behaviour is also linked to their magnitude (relative to the dominant order). A methodology for efficient damper mapping is proposed; the key aim is to produce a dataset that will minimise the length of the parameterisation process while capturing key damper behaviours. It was found that the magnitude of the torque oscillations used to excite the damper is linked to parameter adjustment impact, though this relationship is not linear for all parameters; an approximate level of 300Nm should be used for excitation. Parameters such as spring stiffness and plate inertias are more likely to have a substantial impact on damper performance at frequencies below 70Hz; friction tuning factors are impacted more by magnitude changes at frequencies above 150Hz. It has been demonstrated that while speed can have an effect on magnification ratio, this effect is far less significant at mean torques above the knee point and when sinusoidal input magnitude is kept at or above 300Nm. It was concluded that neither engine speed nor precise excitation magnitude must be replicated in order to predict approximate performance. During the investigation into areas of poor damper performance, it was confirmed that the trend of increasing magnification ratio with lower frequencies ( < 30Hz) seen in experimental data continued. Simulation testing above 140Hz revealed that there is not a linear relationship between increased frequency and increased magnification ratio; these areas of magnification ratio spikes are likely due to system resonances. It has been confirmed that while fluctuation magnitude does impact magnification ratio, fluctuation frequency has the most significant (dominant) impact. Finally, the effect of speed on apparent damper stiffness was investigated for both hysteresis loop testing and across a range of outer spring vibration angles; it was confirmed that increasing speed does result in non-homogeneous compression of the springs. It was established that while speed can have an effect on spring stiffness, this effect will vary significantly depending on the movement range (vibration angle) of the spring. / The largest increase in spring stiffness with speed is seen when segments of the spring become inactive (cease to move), hence why the effect of speed is more substantial at vibration angle of < 10°. The simulation was used to confirm the theories linking speed and stiffness found in the literature; higher speeds increase frictional forces, slowing damper segments, resulting in reduced movement. The findings of this thesis are relevant to damper simulation and testing engineers; by expanding knowledge of damper behavioural responses to high frequency excitation signals, as well as demonstrating an effective method for producing validated damper simulations, it is hoped that the vehicle design process will be more efficient and damper modifications more effective.

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Automotive transmission rattle is the noise generated due to impacts between manual transmissions meshing gear teeth in the presence of backlash. It is considered to be a Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) phenomenon and is originated due to combustion irregularities (engine order vibrations), especially in diesel vehicles. This thesis focuses in the case of creep rattle for the MMT6 Ford Getrag transmission (six speeds plus reverse) with a DW10b, 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, 2.0 litres diesel engine. This particular rattle condition is fundamentally similar to any other where an engaged gear is pertained (drive, over-run or float), with the 1st or 2nd gear engaged at a very low engine speed. The numerical models include an initial single degree of freedom (DoF) simulation. It comprises either of the engaged gear pair under Hertzian contact conditions or of a loose gear pair under hydrodynamic regime of lubrication. Once the validity of this model is established and correlated with the results obtained from a single gear pair test rig, simulations of increasing complexity can be envisaged. A 7 DoF numerical model is, therefore, developed. The Hertzian contact model still prevails for the engaged gear pair, whereas an analytical hydrodynamic solution is implemented for the remaining 6 loose gear wheels and Petrov s law is applied to the needle bearings retaining the gear wheels. With the aim of accommodating a fully lubricated model of all the tribological conjunctions, an analytical elastohydrodynamic (EHL) Grubin type algorithm is employed. Also, the energy equation is analytically solved for hydrodynamic and elastohydrodynamic conjunctions, based on the assumptions dictated by the Peclet number. Therefore, under hydrodynamic conditions, the energy equation is governed by viscous heating and convective cooling, whereas in the EHL conjunctions the governing terms are viscous and compressive heating, together with conductive cooling. The retaining needle bearings follow the same heat generation mechanism as journal bearings. The effective viscosity, as obtained from the Houpert s equation accounting for pressure and thermal effects, is fundamental for the study of the friction in the contact. The hydrodynamic contacts are only governed by viscous friction, whereas EHL conjunctions exhibit asperity iv interactions as well as viscous effects. The results obtained from this new 7 DoF model are then compared to the experimental measurements taken from the vehicle tests and various purpose-built drivetrain rigs. A metric named Impulsion Ratio is hereby introduced, aiming to shed some light into the predictions obtained by the various models presented. This metric is the ratio of driving over resistive forces acting on each individual gear wheel. Its use is tested to predict single or double-sided rattle scenarios and, therefore, ascertaining higher and lower rattle levels. The 13 DoF model from which these conclusions were obtained includes shafts planar translation and rocking moments. The rolling element bearings supporting the shafts are, therefore, modelled to capture the inherent frequencies arising from their motion. The final model introduces the effects of transient thermo-elastohydrodynamics. This 7 DoF dynamic model accounts for a numerical solution of Reynolds equation with Elrod s cavitation algorithm for simultaneous teeth in mesh. The results obtained validate the previously used Grubin assumption by comparing the predicted central film thickness along the full mesh of one tooth. Also, the effect of starved input conditions and thermal and isothermal solutions are studied.

Ce travail de recherche propose le développement et la validation d’une méthode de prédiction in-situ et temps réel de la durée de vie utile restante des engrenages de boîtes de vitesses automobiles de série. Cette méthode est destinée à être implantée dans des unités de commande électronique standards. En s’attachant tout particulièrement à proposer une solution simple, fiable, rentable et facilement transposable pour tout type de configuration, le système se base sur la combinaison d’une méthode d’acquisition des couples agissants sur la boîte de vitesses et d’une estimation continue des niveaux d’endommagement des engrenages. Un état de l’art et les fondamentaux théoriques d’une estimation de l’endommagement par une approche de contrainte nominale et une accumulation linéaire des endommagements partiels sont abordés dans un premier temps. La structure globale de l’algorithme de calcul de l’endommagement est ensuite étudiée et l’approche méthodologique adoptée pour sa mise au point expliquée. Cette dernière repose en grande partie sur un modèle complet de véhicule valide par des essais sur route et des mesures, où une attention toute particulière est portée à la représentation des changements de rapport et de la dynamique de la boîte de vitesses. Deux types de boite de vitesses sont alors considérées, une boite manuelle standard et une boite à double embrayage, et une spécification technique pour la configuration de l’algorithme ainsi qu’une analyse des besoins pour la méthode d’acquisition des couples sont formulées. En se basant sur ces études, un observateur d’état capable de reconstruire le couple agissant sur les disques d’embrayage ainsi que le couple en sortie de boite est développé et valide. Finalement, une synthèse de la méthode complète et de l’algorithme final est adressée, et les avantages économiques et écologiques liés à l’introduction de cette méthode pour des mesures de conception légère des boîtes de vitesses automobiles sont abordés et évalués. / This research work proposes the development and the validation of an online and real-time method to predict the remaining service life of the gearwheels of automotive transmissions, with the aim of implementing it on standard control units of series-production vehicles. By focusing on the proposition of a simple, reliable and easy-to-implement solution, the system relies on the combination of an acquisition method of the torques acting in the transmission and a continuous estimation of the damage levels of the gearwheels. Firstly, a state of the art and the theoretical basics are presented concerning a damage estimation based on a nominal stress concept and a linear damage accumulation. The global structure of the damage estimation algorithm is then analyzed and the methodological approach adopted for its development is explained. This is based in principal on a drivetrain model, validated with tests and measurements, where a particular attention is paid to the representation of the gear shifts and the transmission dynamics. Two types of transmissions are considered, namely a standard manual transmission and a dual clutch transmission mounted in series-production cars. Respectively a requirement analysis for the configuration of the algorithm as well as a requirement specification for the torque acquisition method are performed. On this basis, a state observer is developed and validated, which is able to reconstruct the clutch torque and the transmission output torque. Finally, a synthesis of the complete method and the final version of the algorithm are addressed, and the economic and ecological advantages of the introduction of the method in the context of lightweight design measures are discussed and evaluated. / Kurzfassung Diese Dissertation beschreibt die Entwicklung einer Online- und Echtzeit-Methode zur Vorhersage der restlichen Lebensdauer von den Zahnradern eines Kraftfahrzeuggetriebes. Diese Methode ist fur eine Implementierung auf Standard-Steuergeraten vorgesehen. Durch die Fokussierung auf eine einfache, zuverlassige und leicht zu implementierende Losung beruht die Methode auf der Kombination aus einer Drehmomenterfassungsmethode und einer kontinuierlichen Vorhersage des Schadigungsniveaus der Zahnrader. Zuerst werden der Stand der Technik und die theoretischen Grundlagen von Schadigungsberechnungen basierend auf dem Nennspannungskonzept und einer linearen Schadensakkumulation dargestellt. Danach wird die globale Struktur des Schadigungsberechnungsalgorithmus gezeigt und die fur die Entwicklung ausgewahlte methodische Vorgehensweise erlautert. Diese bezieht sich grundsatzlich auf ein durch Testfahrten und Messungen verifiziertes Antriebsstrangmodell, welches besonders die Schaltungen und die Dynamik des Getriebes berucksichtigt. Ein Serien-Handschaltgetriebe und ein Serien-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe werden betrachtet. Fur diese zwei Getriebetypen werden eine Anforderungsanalyse zur Konfiguration des Algorithmus sowie eine Anforderungsspezifikation fur die Drehmomenterfassungsmethode durchgefuhrt. Auf Basis dieser Untersuchungen wird dann ein Zustandsbeobachter zur Rekonstruktion des Kupplungs- und Getriebeausgangsdrehmoments entwickelt und validiert. Infolgedessen werden eine Synthese der kompletten Methode und die Endversion des Algorithmus vorgestellt. Abschliesend werden die Wirtschaftlichkeit sowie die okologischen Vorteile in Bezug auf die Einfuhrung der Lebensdauermonitoringmethode im Rahmen von Leichtbaumasnahmen diskutiert und bewertet.