Characterization of the dynamic interaction between chassis and powertrain of a vehicle using the coupling matrix

This study is concerned with the vibration transmission between two subsystems of a vehicle: the chassis which is considered as an elastic structure and the powertrain which is considered as a rigid body. The study is carried out based on a new coupling matrix constructed from equations of dynamic behavior of each subsystems. This matrix depends only on the impedance matrices of the two subsystems and the mechanical characteristics of the linking mounts. Under some assumptions, a simplified expression to obtain the overall behaviour of the entire system is proposed. Despite its sensitivity to the degree of coupling between the subsystems, this method can be applied to the case of sub-structures with weak coupling. The results obtained from a simple example and from a more complex industrial structure representing a city bus are presented