The work presented in this thesis is motivated by a need for an advanced understanding of the governing mechanisms for vibrations in complex structures. In order to obtain a simplified description of the complex structure with the dominant information of the structure enhanced, one removes some unimportant structural information from the description by identifying secondary contributing substructures and couplings, then describing them using simplified models. It is found that the secondary substructures are those substructures being required for their vibrational transmission characteristics only, and the secondary couplings are the weak couplings in the structure. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the transmission characteristics can be sufficiently described by using only the direct wave and the fIrst reflection in the structure, and the secondary coupling can be simplified as an idealised coupling. The procedure for establishing such a simplifIed description for the complex structure is illustrated by a two-element built-up structure. Finally, the efficiency of using such a simplifIed description to analyse the complex structure is demonstrated for two mechanical artefacts, one being a laboratory structure consisting of a cylindrical shell attached to a plate via two beams, and the other a full-scale aircraft - Eurofighter 2000.

La prestation vibroacoustique est une question primordiale pour les constructeurs de véhicules, qui sont contraints par des lois ainsi que par des besoins commerciales: d'une part, un grand nombre de normes existe, visant à régler les niveaux vibratoires et acoustiques que les occupants d'un véhicule peuvent supporter, d'autre part le constructeur est intéressé à garantir un haut degré de confort pour que son produit soit compétitif. L'industrie du poids lourds comporte des spécificités par rapport à d'autres secteurs industriels, et surtout par rapport au marché des véhicules légers: non seulement l'architecture d'un véhicule industriel est unique, mais en plus ce qui caractérise les poids lourds par rapport à d'autres véhicules terrestres est la grande diversité des configurations disponibles. Une bonne connaissance des mécanismes de transmission des vibrations et du bruit, ainsi que du bilan de leurs sources, permette de fixer des règles de conception plus rigoureuses pour les composants. Par ailleurs, la connaissance des influences des paramètres architecturaux d'un camion sur les prestations vibroacoustiques donne une meilleure clé d'interprétation pour prédire les caractéristiques qu'un composant du véhicule doit avoir. Actuellement ces vérifications sont largement basées sur des essais, soit subjectifs (estimations par des techniciens experts) soit objectifs (acquisitions par microphones et accéléromètres). Cette pratique est très coûteuse car, pour prendre en compte la diversité des camions, il faut tester un grand nombre de véhicules. Pour franchir ces limitations, le prototypage virtuel - au lieu des essais physiques - doit être renforcé. Les méthodologies numériques sont déjà utilisées au sein du Groupe Volvo, mais les outils disponibles sont considérés en partie inappropriés pour les besoins de calcul des prestations NVH. Les activités de cette thèse ont été réalisées dans le cadre du service Noise and Driveline Vibration, qui est responsable de l'estimation du confort acoustique perçu par les occupants du camion, dans toutes ces conditions d'utilisation. Les travaux de thèse sont concentrés sur le comportement du châssis comme composant principale; le châssis est la principale voie de transfert des vibrations depuis le moteur vers la cabine. En outre, une attention particulière sera donnée à l'effet des accessoires sur le comportement dynamique du châssis, bien que peu d'intérêt sera porté sur la signature vibratoire des accessoires mêmes. / The vibroacoustic performance is a matter of primary concern for modern vehicle manufacturers, that are constrained by health and safety legislation as well as by commercial needs: on the one hand, a number of norms exists regulating the level of vibration and noise that vehicle occupants can tolerate, but on the other hand a manufacturer is also interested in guaranteeing a high level of comfort in order to keep products competitive. The commercial vehicle industry presents some peculiarity with respect to other vehicle manufacturing businesses, and especially to the more known car industry: not only the architecture of a commercial vehicle is a class of its own, but what differentiates the most trucks from other ground vehicles are the configuration diversity and customization. A deep knowledge of the vibration and noise transmission mechanisms in trucks as well as source breakdown allows defining more rigorous and strict component specifications. Furthermore, the comprehension of the sensitivity of truck architecture parameters on vibroacoustic features provides even deeper means to assess the needed properties for a component to be installed on a vehicle. At present the verification is largely based on tests, both subjective (assessment by experimented test engineers) and objective (microphone and accelerometer acquisitions). This practice is extremely expensive, since, in order to take into account the large diversity of trucks, a large number of vehicles has to be tested. To overcome this limit, virtual testing - as opposed to physical testing - should be strengthened. Numerical methods are already largely used in the Volvo Group, but the available tools are considered partly unfit to the NVH demands and inappropriate with respect to their specific needs. The activities of the current thesis have been developed in the framework of the Interior Noise and Driveline Vibration group, which is responsible for the estimation of the acoustic comfort perceived by driver and passengers in all driving conditions and vehicle uses. This thesis will focus on the behaviour of the chassis as a primary component. The chassis is the main transfer path for engine-induced vibrations transmitted to the cabin. Besides, a peculiar attention will be given to the effect the chassis equipment components have on the chassis dynamics, even though limited interest will be put on the investigation of the dynamic signature of the equipment itself.

The thesis deals with the design of the experimental testing rig. Test rig is designed to measure NVH transmission parameters. First, basic knowledge of vibro-acoustic measurement is discussed. This is followed by an evaluation of the most commonly used power devices to derive real loads on measured gearboxes. In more detail, a back-to-back test rig is disassembled among other things. In the thesis are described two main components, which are composed of a connecting element and a test bench. Both components were optimized during the design due to their modal properties. Numerical modal analysis was performed in ANSYS Workbench software. The thesis also includes strength calculations performed using both numerical and analytical approaches. The indispensable result of the design work is the complete drawing documentation. Finally, measurements of vibrations and noise on the physically made connecting element assembly have been performed and subsequently evaluated.