The purpose of this study is to investigate the frequency and amplitude characteristics of vibration exposed to the bicycle and the rider as well as the features of the vibration transmission to the riders&amp / #8217 / body. The findings showed that, vibration transmission to the bicycle and the rider is effective in x-and z axis. As a result of increased roughness, effective frequency range shifted to lower frequencies between 15-30Hz at both saddle and stem. The severity of transmitted vibration to the bicycle was found to be considerably higher in road bike trials (up to 25 ms-2). The frequency range of the vibration exposure of the body parts were in between 0-30Hz and independent of the level of vibration transmission the peak values were within the range of 3-12Hz. As the acceleration magnitude increased depending on road roughness, normalized rms EMG values also increased up to 50% in forearm extensor muscles during MTB trials and in the flexor muscles during road bike trials. With respect to no vibration trials, rms EMG values increased in order to maintain the same force output. Vibration transmission to the body tends to be amplified with increased force production. Transmission values were found to be higher at lower frequencies. Since the magnitude and frequency of vibration is known to have some adverse effects on body functions such as impaired breathing pattern and increased muscle tone, vibration transmitted to the body might be considered to influence the riding comfort, controllability and overall health of the cyclist.

Vibration in the vehicle environment has long been investigated considering the driver&#039 / s exposure. However not only drivers but also the front seat car passengers are exposed to considerable amount of vibration. In order to investigate the phenomenon, this research consisted of three stages. In the first stage of the study, model analysis has been carried out. Based on the results it has been suggested that increased damping in the lumbar area in contact with the backrest can decrease the vibration transmission. The second stage comprised of the laboratory studies. Based on the results attained from the model, waist belts filled with different fluids having different coefficients of viscosity were prepared and tested. The inclination of the backrest angle was chosen as the second parameter. The cushions having ready-made gel mediums were seen to be effective in reducing low frequency vibrations where the angle of inclination affected the response of the cushions. In the third part of the thesis, field measurements were carried out in order to confirm the results attained in the laboratory. It was observed that the inclination of backrest angle played a major role in the exposure of the passenger in fore and aft direction. The cushions proved to be effective at certain frequencies in the field, differing due to the design and the medium.

High quality noise and vibration measurements outside of a laboratory environment on real life structures and applications are not trivial. True boundary and operating conditions enforce unique challenges on the measurements. Measurements in hazardous situations such as high magnetic fields, and high temperature environments, etc., where ordinary measurement equipment and methods may not be employed, require further precautions. Post measurements objectives such as analysis, design and strategic decisions, e.g., control, rely heavily on the quality and integrity of the measurements (data). The quality of the experimental data is highly correlated with the on-field expertise. Practical or hands-on experience with measurements can be imparted to prospective students, researchers and technicians in the form of laboratory experiments involving real equipment and practical applications. However, achieving expertise in the field of sound and vibration measurements in general and their active control in particular is a time consuming and expensive process. Consequently most institutions can only afford a single setup, resulting in the compromise of the quality of expertise. In this thesis, the challenges in the field of sound and vibration measurements in high magnetic field are addressed. The analysis and measurement of vibration transferred from an operational magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to adjacent floors is taken as an example. Improvised experimental measurement methods and custom-made frequency analysis techniques are proposed in order to address the challenges and study the vibration transfer. The methods may be extended to other operational industrial machinery and hazardous environments. To encourage and develop expertise in the field of acoustic/vibration measurements and active noise control on practical test beds, remotely controlled laboratory setups are introduced. The developed laboratory setup, which is accessed and controlled via the Internet, is the first of its kind in the active noise control and acoustic measurements area. The laboratory setup can be shared and utilized 24/7 globally, thus reducing the associated costs and eliminating time restrictions.

A rapid growth of installed wind power capacity is expectedin the next few years. However, the siting of wind turbines ona large scale raises concerns about their environmental impact,notably with respect to noise. To this end, variable speed windturbines offer a promising solution for applications in denselypopulated areas like the European countries, as this designwould enable an efficient utilisation of the masking effect dueto ambient noise. In rural and recreational areas where windturbines are sited, the ambient noise originates from theaction of wind on the vegetation and about the listener's ear(pseudo-noise). It shows a wind speed dependence similar tothat of the noise from a variable speed wind turbine and cantherefore mask the latter for a wide range of conditions.However, a problem inherent to the design of these machines istheir proclivity to pure tone generation, because of theenhanced difficulty of avoiding structural resonances in themechanical parts. Pure tones are deemed highly annoying and areseverely regulated by most noise policies. In relation to thisproblem, the vibration transmission of structure-borne sound tothe tower of the turbine is investigated, in particular whenthe tower is stiffened at its upper end. Furthermore, sincenoise annoyance due to wind turbine is mostly a masking issue,the wind-related sources of ambient noise are studied and theirmasking potentials assessed. With this aim, prediction modelsfor wind-induced vegetation noise and pseudo-noise have beendeveloped. Finally, closely related to the effect of masking,is the difficulty, regularly encountered by local authoritiesand wind farm developers, to measure noise immission from windturbines. A new measurement technique has thus been developedin the course of this work. Through improving thesignal-to-noise ratio between wind turbine noise and ambientnoise, the new technique yields more accurate measurementresults. Keywords: Masking, vibration transmission, diffraction,ambient noise, pseudo-noise, cylindrical shell, perturbationmethods, structural mobility, acoustic outdoor measurement. / QC 20100616

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.

This diploma thesis is focused on compiling a computational model of the transmission of a Zetor Forterra HSX tractor in the Multibody software MSC ADAMS environment. It analyses the issue of creating gears in terms of vibration and noise. The thesis describes the creation of computational model which is used for simulation of the load conditions during tractor operation. The methodology is applied to a single-stage gearbox in which is verified. Then it is used on a model of a real tractor gearbox. The response of the input load conditions is projected during the forces in the engagement of the gears which are transmitted to the bearings.

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors are used in an increasing range of applications such as inertial guidance or automotive safety systems, in which damping has a significant and negative effect on the device performances. Support loss, which governs the losses from the resonator to its foundation through the supporting structure, is an important source of damping in MEMS resonators. This thesis focuses on improving an understanding of this particular damping mechanism so that efficient models can be developed to predict the amount and relative importance of support loss at the design stage. The coupling between resonator and support is of principal interest to evaluate the interaction and energy transmission between them. To quantify the stresses acting on the support, a model that predicts vibration transmission through common MEMS structures is first developed. A general wave propagation approach for the vibration analysis of networks consisting of slender, straight and curved beam elements and complete ring is presented. The analysis is based on a ray tracing method and a procedure to predict the natural frequencies and mode shapes of complex ring/beam structures is demonstrated. An analytical method is then used to model the support, approximated to a semi-infinite domain, and quantify support losses. The work focuses mainly on in-plane vibrations for single-axis gyroscopes. However, new generation of multi-axis resonators is being currently developed, and the in-plane models are extended to cope with out-of-plane vibration transmission and support loss. To illustrate the effectiveness of the models, several numerical examples are presented, by applying them first to simple beam-like structures and subsequently to structures of increasing complexity. Strategies for improving the quality factor of common MEMS sensors, and specific ring-based resonators designs that minimise support losses, are also considered.