Design Project Vibration Analysis on an Automobile Muffler

April 23, 2003

Amanda Frederick Sarah Brady

EGR 315: Mechanical Vibrations Dr. Amit Shukla

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Science Miami University

Executive Summary A muffler is a part of the exhaust system on an automobile that plays a vital role. It needs to have modes that are located away from the frequencies that the engine operates at, whether the engine be idling or running at the maximum amount of revolutions per second. The purpose of the design project performed was to determine which modes are very high and may affect the automobile adversely while in operation. A muffler that affects an automobile in a negative way is one that causes noise or discomfort while the car engine is running. In order to determine the modes most at risk of adversely affecting an automobile, an impact test was conducted. Research was performed prior to the test to determine which frequencies to look for modes at. It was determined to conduct the experiment so data from 0 Hz to 1000 Hz could be collected. The force was caused manually by a hammer with a hard head. After collecting the data, the transfer functions were plotted using Matlab. To ensure correct analyzation, the transfer function

equivalent graphs were also plotted. The data was put into an Excel table and analyzed. Six points on the muffler were chosen, after looking at the data, and determined to be under damped. Therefore, our design study suggests to increase the mass, increase the damping, or provide a negative stiffness to make the muffler more damped and to lower the modes of the transfer function. Once at least one of these tasks is performed, the damping will be lowered and there ought to be no more dangerous modes that could lead to excess noise and vibration.

Table of Contents
Abstract or Executive Summary1 Introduction and Background3 Literature Review..........4 Figure 1: CAD rendition of a muffler system...5 Research Approach...5 Experimental Details.........6 Figure 2: Experimental muffler with data points labeled..7 Data Analysis and Observations..10 Figure 3a: Example Transfer Function Graph.........11 Figure 3b: Example Transfer Function Equivalent Graph...11 Figure 4: Aliasing Error12 Design Studies..........13 Figure 5: Experimental muffler with improvement data points labeled...14 Conclusions and Future Work..........14 References.........16 Appendices A. Graphs of transfer function and transfer function equivalent for each point on the muffler B. List of resonance peaks for the transfer function and transfer function equivalent graphs of each point on the muffler C. List of frequency of each peak and occurrences of each point for the peaks selected

Introduction and Background The muffler in an automobile plays an integral role in the sound of the automobile as well as the ride itself. In order to maintain a desired noise and comfortable ride, the modes of a muffler need to be analyzed. Any modes that occur near to a frequency that the car engine operates at should be considered dangerous because they could cause harmonic oscillations. The term dangerous refers to the fact that if a high transfer value occurs at an operating frequency of the engine, then the noise and ride comfort are at risk of non-optimal conditions. The typical frequency that a car operates is at 315 Hz, which is equivalent to 3000 revolutions per minute (rpm). The maximum frequency of a car is 838 Hz, which is equivalent to 8000 rpm. The average idling frequency of car engines is at 73 Hz, which is equivalent to 700 rpm. With this data in mind, the experimental data collected will be in the range of 50 Hz through 800 Hz. In order to figure out the modes of the muffler, an impact test ought to be performed. Impact testing is a simple and fast technique for obtaining good approximations of a systems modal properties and frequency response information. The usefulness of the impulse technique lies in the fact that the energy in an impulse is distributed continuously in the frequency domain rather than occurring at discrete spectral lines as in the case of period signals. Thus, an impulse force will excited all resonance frequencies within its useful frequency range. (Halvorsen) One of the key characteristics of impact testing that makes it such a useful technique is the reciprocity property. This property basically states that the properties of X/F are the same as those for F/X. Consequently, in order to obtain data from all the points in the system, each point must either be hit by the impact hammer or have an accerlometer on it, but not both. This greatly reduces the amount of data that needs to be taken and analyzed, making time efficiency one of the primary benefits of impact testing.

Literature Review The area of vibrations testing on mufflers is very extensive. While review the various journals and publications on impact testing of mufflers, three of those journals and publications were of particular interest. The first was the Characterization of Rasping Noise in Automotive Engine Exhaust Ducts journal, published by M. Ayadi, S. Frikha, and P.-Y. Hennion. In this journal, the details of the problem, experimental set up, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions were explained. The main idea behind this experiment was to discover the reason behind the rasping noise heard in exhaust systems when an automobile abruptly accelerates when it is subjected to cold conditions. The experimental set up included a shaker to input the force as well as piezoelectric transducers to measure the acceleration. After the data was collected, it was analyzed and then transformed into wavelets. These wavelets allowed for the analysts to see if any abrupt changes in non-stationary phenomena took place. In conclusion, it was proven that the rasping noise was due to a balance between dissipative effects and nonlinear coupling between exhaust system resonance modes which makes them sustain each other. (Ayadi) The second literature review of interest was of a case study by Lusas Analysts. This case study explored faster vibration analysis of automotive exhaust systems. It utilized the Arvin Modal Analysis Program (AMAP) which was produced by Arvin Exhaust R&D, based in Warton, England. This program, which commissioned FEA Ltds consultancy department to create it, has become widely used throughout the automotive industry. See Figure 1 for an example of a type of model it can produce.

Figure 1 In this figure is a muffler with some of the exhaust duct attached to it that is found underneath an automobile. This software allows for man-time reductions of 50%. It can be used in conjunction with the LUSAS analysis run, which provides a number of different eigensolvers for natural frequency analysis. These programs allow for proposed exhaust systems to be analyzed much more quickly than ever before. The third literature review of interest was the article titled Development of the 2001 Year Model Civic by Chitoshi Yokota, Yoshinori Nakamura, Shigeru Yada, Kouichi Funatsu, Fumio Kubo, Tsuyoshi Ohkubo, and Tadashi Watanabe. The article opens up with the introduction, goes into the concept and development objectives, discusses the different portions of the car and improvements that will be made, and then conclusions. In the introduction, the issue of Hondas specific approach to designing the 2001 Civic in such a way that is was optimal in all aspects, including stylishness, efficiency, and comfort is introduced. The goals for comfort, efficiency, and stylishness are then given with very specific guidelines to be met. The article then steps through the different car portions, naming specific areas that are going to be improved and how the improvement will take place. To conclude, the article sums up the fact that the goal for the car to be optimized to meet peoples standards has been met. Research Approach In order to conduct an impact test on the muffler to gather data, research had to be conducted. The method in which the research was performed can be viewed in a hierarchical manner. The

first step was to define our problem at hand, which was to determine any high transfer function values occurring during the operating frequencies of a car. Once these values are determined, design studies will be conducted to move the modes to higher frequencies so they are out of a cars operating range of frequencies. In order to know which frequencies ought to be explore for any mode existences, web-based research as well as journal article research was conducted. From reading various sources, the frequencies determined to be analyzed ranged from 73 Hz up through 838 Hz. At 73 Hz, a car is idle. At 838 Hz, a car is running at 160+ miles per hour. Therefore, the experiment was broadened to analyze data in the range of 0 Hz to 1000 Hz. After gathering this constraint data on the frequencies, methods of actually conducting the experiment had to be decided upon. Impact testing was chosen based upon its availability as well as familiarity to those performing the experiment. After deciding upon impacting testing, the type of hammer head to be used was chosen to be the metal head rather than the plastic head. The reason for this was based upon findings of the fact that mufflers, in general, are very damped to begin with, so a stronger force is required to achieve good vibration results. Harder tips will deform less than softer tips during impact (GlobalSpec). Since less deformation results in more vibration, the harder hammer head was chosen. To actually read the acceleration data, Microsoft Excel was used in conjunction with a piezoelectric accelerometer. The piezoelectric crystal accelerometer was chosen based upon the availability of it. While visiting ArvinMeritor, it was learned that the accelerometer is positioned using a wax-based material, so that was also employed in this experiment. Experimental Details Before taking experimental data, one needs to establish coordinates for the geometry of their system. In performing an impact test it is important to take enough points that one has an

accurate display of all the significant modes and resonant frequencies for the system, but also not to take so many data points that the acquisition becomes impossible, meaningless, or redundant in its analysis. When labeling the geometry of the system it is important to be as accurate as possible. This is primarily so that if multiple tests need to be done on the system, the person performing the experiment can be sure that they are taking data from the exact same place on the system every time they do an analysis. In an ideal setting, the person performing the experiment would want to do several hits on the system and average them in order to average out the effect of not hitting the same place exactly every time. However, for the time period of this experiment, the averaging technique is not a realistic approach. The analyst also wants to make sure that he or she keeps careful track of which experimental data goes with which point on the system. This is key for obtaining accurate models of the modes properties and shapes of the system. In this experiment, twelve data points were taken to represent the experimental geometry. The reason was that, for the purposes of this experiment, this would provide sufficient data in order to obtain an accurate model of the system. It was also thought that this was a practical number of points to analyze in terms of interpreting data. A picture of the data points labeled on the muffler is shown below in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Before conducting the test, it was necessary to choose certain testing parameters within the program. One of the most important of these was the sampling rate. Choosing an

appropriate sampling rate is important because the sampling rate must be sufficiently large to prevent alias from occurring. A larger sampling rate increases the resolution, which improves the accuracy of the data because there is a smaller step size in between the data points taken. A sampling rate of 2000 Hz was used for this experiment. While the data was being taken, line graphs were plotted for each set of data along the way. Doing so provides the analyst with a good initial perspective on if the data was relatively good or bad, allowing them to know whether to keep the set or take another reading. One of the first problems encountered in testing the system was ensuring proper system isolation. When performing an impact test, one wants to isolate the system correctly to make certain that all of the acceleration that the accelerometer is experiencing is due to the vibrations from the impact test and not from any outside source. This is the reason why more advanced vibrations testing facilities, such as the one used at ArvinMeritor, feature a specially isolated testing floor which has been constructed to eliminate the effects of any outside forces. For the purpose of this experiment, foam was used as a way to damp out the vibrations from the surrounding environment. Another option would have been to suspend the muffler system from bungee chords so that it would not be resting on any surface that could have an impact on the test. One reason why it was so difficult to obtain accurate results from the impact test was that the muffler system is a very highly damped system. Noise interference is particularly inherent in heavily damped systems. Although it is not possible to eliminate this problem, it was hoped that

using the Transfer Function Equivalent graph as one of the analysis tools would remove some of the effects from the analysis. It was decided that for the purpose of this experiment use of a single accelerometer in our testing was the best option to keep the data collection process relatively simple. The original idea was just to put the accerlometer at the point we had labeled 1 on the muffler. However, this was a poor idea due to the fact that the point was on an angle and consequently it would be difficult to make sure that the accelerometer was facing exactly towards the z-axis. As a result, the accelerometer was instead placed on the point labeled 6 since this point was parallel with the ground and would allow the accelerometer to be facing directly vertically. Once the data collection began, a problem was encountered due to a loose connection between the accelerometer and the connection cord to the computer. This would not have allowed for obtaining readings out of the system. Thus it is important for the person setting up the experiment to be very careful about how they set up their system when taking data. It is extremely important when performing impact testing to make sure that the impact hammer is used in an appropriate manner. Poor impact hits can result in inaccurate data. One of the primary problems encountered during this experiment was that the hammer was striking the system twice when the system would vibrate. The tester needs to ensure that the system is only encountering a single impact; otherwise, the data will be a summation of multiple impacts on the system. Another problem that was faced involved making sure that the hammer was hitting the system directly along the Z-axis. If the hammer was not striking the system directly vertically then we could be altering the vibration properties in each direction and not obtaining the proper results. The accelerometer that was used was only capable of measuring vibrations along one axis at a time. In order to ensure maximum vibration and accurate resonant frequencies of

impacts along this axis, we needed to make sure that we were hitting the system in this direction only. Data Analysis and Observation The first goal in being able to interpret the data from the impact testing was to establish transfer functions for each data point on the muffler. Once these transfer functions had been graphed, it would be possible to distinguish the resonant frequencies that occurred at each spot. The transfer function plot is a graph of input over output with respect to frequency. The input of this impact testing was the force exerted on the system by the impact hammer. The output of the impact testing was the acceleration of the muffler system, as measured by the accelerometer. The Excel data acquisition system used to compile the data collected this experiment is in the form of two columns, one for the hammer data and the other for the accelerometer data. In order to make this data usable in Matlab, each pair of data points were saved as text files and then imported directly into Matlab. Next, a time vector was created that accurately represented this vibration tests experimental time range and was equal to the length of the vector created for the transfer function data. Once these steps were complete, it was possible to obtain graphs of the force and acceleration with respect to time. When the graphs were plotted in Matlab, it was necessary to divide the accelerometer data by the calibration constant (110.3 mV/g) of the accelerometer used in the experiment in order to have the data displayed on an accurate scale. Since the hammer had a calibration constant of 1, this did not need to be accounted for in the data interpretation. In plotting these graphs, peaks were found at all multiples of 60 Hz. These peaks were actually due to an electrical frequency in the surrounding environment, making these individual graphs very hard to interpret. Fortunately, since these peaks occurred in both the hammer and

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accelerometer data at exactly the same points, when the transfer function was graphed with respect to frequency, the affects of the electrical peaks cancelled each other out. To obtain the plots of the transfer function, it is necessary to convert the readings from time domain to frequency domain. Numerically this is done by taking the Fourier transfer of the input divided by the Fourier transfer of the output. In this experiment, a Matlab function was used to obtain this desired result and create plots of the accelerometer / hammer with respect to frequency, giving us our desired graph of output / input with respect to frequency. We also used a semi log plot of this same data in order to determine what points were of interest to our analysis. The Transfer Function Equivalent graph was used as a second source for interpreting the data. This graph is useful because it eliminates some of the effects of noise, allowing for a clearer display of frequencies due to the force of the impact. This is particularly useful for observing the peaks that occur at lower frequency ranges. Examples of the transfer function graph and the transfer function equivalent graph are shown below in Figure 3a and Figure 3b. These graphs are for the first point on the muffler. The graphs for all of the points are given in Appendix A.

Transfer Function Graph Figure 3a

Transfer Function Equivalent Graph Figure 3b

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One of the problems inherent in an impact testing is aliasing error. Shannons sampling theorem, also known as the Nyquist criterion, states that the sampling frequency for a system needs to be at least twice the maximum frequency to be measured; otherwise, aliasing error will occur. When alias occurs, an inaccurate graph of the sample data will be obtained, as is shown in the figure below in Figure 4.

Alias
Amplitude T

t t>T/2

Figure 4 Another error that occurs during an impact test is leakage error. Leakage error occurs when the analyst stops taking data before the energy of the system dies out. This can result in inaccuracy in the transfer function. Vibrations testing for all systems will have at least a minimal amount of leakage error occurring naturally: the goal is to minimize it. This is another reason for isolating the muffler system with the surrounding foam. It was decided early on that the range of 0 to 1000 Hz was appropriate for analyzing the frequencies that are typically encountered by a vehicle. In order to see what frequencies were exciting peaks in the transfer function the most frequently, a spreadsheet was compiled that listed the peaks occurring in both transfer function graphs for each point on the muffler. See appendix B for a copy of this spreadsheet. Then, another spreadsheet was made that showed the most

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frequently occurring peaks and at how many data points that peak occurred. See appendix C for a copy of this spreadsheet. One goal in selecting the most important resonance frequencies was to select the peaks that were occurring the most often. Another goal was to select peaks over a wide range of frequencies in order to eliminate a good range of problem spots. Finally, it was desirable to eliminate those peaks that were often the highest in the graphs, since those were the ones which were most likely to cause problems in the system. Although our testing range went from 0 to 1000 Hz, we were mostly concerned with points below about 800 Hz since these were the ones most likely to be reached by the system. With these criteria in mind, five resonance frequency peaks were selected as those to be removed from the system. These frequency peaks occur at 120, 420, 560, 730, and 880. Although the 880 is slightly out of our range of interest, there was a large number of peaks at this point and since it was fairly close to the range of interest, it remained a one of the peaks targeted. For this experiment, because there was such a large amount of noise, it was not possible to obtain meaningful data and graphs that could be used in a software program such as diamond in order to analyze the modal shapes. If the mode shapes had been able to be graphed, this would have provided an indication of how the system was moving when it was stuck by the hammer. The deflection of these shapes would have also helped in determining the locations where damping could have been added to the system for the most effective deflection resistance. Design Studies According to the criteria listed above, the resonance peaks of 120, 420, 560, 730, and 880 Hz are those that have been targeted to be removed from the system. To decrease these peaks, one can look at what type of affect changing the M, C, K properties of the system will have on

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the transfer function. This can be done by using Matlab to plot graphs of the transfer function with respect to w, similar to what was done during EGR 315 Homework #9. In doing so, one will find that increasing the mass, increasing the damping, or providing a negative stiffness will all have the effect of decreasing the height and flattening the peaks of the transfer function plot. In order to determine which would be the best locations for conducting these system changes, one can count the number of times that each location on the muffler was excited at our peaks of interest. This information is available in Appendix C. Through this analysis, points 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11 were selected as the most important. Their location on the muffler is shown by a red dot on the following graph:

Figure 5 Our final design suggestion is thus to increase the damping inside the muffler, specifically at these points of interest.

Conclusions and Future Work The purpose of this experiment was to conduct an impact test on a muffler system in order to determine the resonant frequencies of the system and suggest changes in the system design. For this impact test, an impact hammer was used to provide the input force and an accelerometer was used to measure the output response. In order to determine the resonance frequencies, Matlab was used to graph the transfer functions for each data point labeled on the muffler, specifically, the transfer function and transfer function equivalent graphs. Spreadsheets

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were then compiled to determine which peaks were the most significant for the system. From the data, five peaks were selected as potential resonance frequencies to remove from the muffler system. These peaks occurred at 120, 240, 560, 730, and 880 Hz. In order to minimize the effects of these resonance frequencies, the suggested design improvement is to add damping to the system. By creating a spreadsheet counting the number of times that each point on the muffler was excited at each of these peaks, the locations for adding the damping have been determined to be points 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11 on the muffler. In terms of future research, a good deal more analysis could be done on this system. If a similar experiment would be done in hopes of eliminating some of the noise, the analyst could attempt to isolate the system better, perhaps using the bungee chord technique. If more accurate data could be obtained, then the analyst could observe the modal shapes of the system to help in determining appropriate locations for damping. Finally, a Matlab model of the system could be constructed that would allow the user to change the M, C, K properties of the system in order to see the result which the changes have on the system without actually altering the mufflers physical properties in person. Although it would be difficult to obtain an accurate virtual model, having one would be extremely valuable in judging the value of design improvement suggestions.

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References Ayadi, M.,Frikha, S., Hennion, P.-Y. Characterization of Rasping Noise in Automotive Engine Exhaust Ducts. Journal of Sound and Vibration. 2001. www.camcraftcams.com/Archives/monthlynews0702.htm Fujikawa, Kenji. Analysis of Steering Column Vibration. Motion & Control. 1998. Halvorsen, William, Brown, David. Impulse Technique for Structural Frequency Response Testing. Sound and Vibration. November 1977. www.lusas.com/case/analyst/arvin.html www.lydallautomotive.com/images/brochure/lydallbrochure.pdf www.scientific-computing.co.uk/acoust/software.htm testequipment.globalspec.com/ProductGlossary/Test_Measurement/Vibration_Acceleration_Sensing www.users.muohio.edu/mortonyt/EGR303/EGR303MainFramSet.html Yokota, Chitoshi, Nakamura, Yoshinori, Yada, Shigeru, Kouichi, Funatsu, Kubo, Fumio, Ohkubo, Tsuyoshi, Watanabe, Tadashi. Development of the 2001 year model Civic. Elsevier. January 2002.

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Appendix A Transfer function and transfer function equivilent graphs Point 1

Point 2

Point 3

Point 4

Point 5

Point 6 Where the accelerometer was placed Point 7

Point 8

Point 9

Point 10

Point 11

Point 12

Appendix B Data Set 1 M1 M2 520 700 820 880 940 990 Data Set 2 M1 M2 240 290 300 310 350 550 730 790 990 Data Set 3 M1 M2 5 80 97 102 120 270 535 650 710 1000 Data Set 4 M1 M2 8 110 120 130 160 200 220 300 310 320 360 390 420 455 460 600 620 680 780 880 970 Data Set 5 M1 M2 250 395 520 750 930 1000 Data Set 7 M1 M2 15 40 90 120 140 150 170 220 440 490 505 560 575 590 599 600 610 620 670 690 700 715 720 730 750 770 790 800 825 840 870

Mode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

70 120 275 340 375 470 495 575 675 730 840 940 990

240 440 515 590 650 680 760 880 980

8 120 180 240 270 325 460 610 680 730 760 800 840 890 920 960

M1=Transfer Function M2=TFE

8 70 120 180 230 290 310 320 350 375 420 445 480 500 540 560 600 620 680 720 780 810 870 900 920 960 980

245 340 400 450 510 555 630 820 870 930

10 60 80 90 120 180 230 275 295 320 360 420 480 510 540 550 560 600 620 655 690 715 730 780 820 850 860 920 960 980

Data Set 8 M1 M2 10 440 640 920 930 940 950 960 970 990

50 70 100 180 220 290 310 370 410 560 750 830 900 960 1000

Data Set 9 M1 M2 255 275 400 700 760 880 940

Data Set 10 M1 M2 60 420 115 585 185 995 235 295 405 445 600 710 745 880 930

420 585 885 910 975

Data Set 11 M1 M2 520 580 640 700 760 820 880 940 1000

30 120 165 240 330 560 595 725 930 1000

Data Set 12 M1 M2 325 360 420 850 860 990 995

125 410 580 635 670 800 865 890 990

Appendix C * indicates appears in both TF and TFE red indicates importance

frequency 70 120 240 420 560 600 730 760 820 880 920 930 940 960 990 1000

points on muffler 1,4,8 2,3*,4*,7*,11 2*,3,11 10*,12,4*,7 11,8,7*,4 9,4*,7* 1,2,3,7* 9,11,2,3 1,11,5,7 1,9*,11,2,4 8,3,4,7 5*,8,11,9 1*,8,9,11,7 8*,4,7,3 1*,12*,2,8,7 5,11*,3,8

# times 3 5 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 4

points on muffler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

# of occurances at resonance frequencies 2 3 2 4 0 0 4 1 1 1 3 1