965

Finite element simulation of the static characteristics of

a vehicle rubber mount

L-R Wang1, Z-H Lu1* and I Hagiwara2

1Department of Automotive Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua
University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
2Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: The static and dynamic characteristics of the rubber mounts for vibration isolation in
automotive powertrains and other dynamic systems should be predicted during their design and
development stage. In this paper, the static characteristic simulation of a rubber mount is performed
using the
nite element method. The modelling and simulation methods for a large deformation
rubber spring represented by axisymmetric, quarter-symmetric and three-dimensional
nite element
models are investigated by using
nite element analysis software PATRAN for meshing and ABAQUS
and ADINA for computations. The predicted vertical static elastic characteristics of the rubber spring
agree well with the experimental results. The static strain–stress analysis of the rubber part shows
that the von Mises stress can be adopted as a stress measure for the rubber material. Moreover, the
modelling methods for the large deformation rubber mount are investigated with numerical tests of
elastic characteristics. The hybrid elements with full integration and lower-order interpolation show
less distortion and are suitable for large deformation simulation computations. The research results
will help engineers and researchers to perform engineering design and analysis of rubber mounts and
other vibration reduction rubber components using the
nite element simulation method.

Keywords: rubber mount,
nite element method, elastic characteristics, modelling method, numerical
simulation

NOTATION in automotive noise, vibration and harshness control

because of popular applications of smaller engines and
ESEDEN strain energy density lighter materials in automobiles and higher requirements
NEP3 maximum principal strain for car ride comfort and quietness. The PMS is basically
SP1 minimum principal stress used to isolate steady state vibrations and transient
SP3 maximum principal stress shock that are transmitted from powertrain to body and
U2 displacement in vertical direction from chassis to powertrain. The static and dynamic
characteristics of engine mounts directly inuence the
s maximum principal stress vibration isolation performance of PMSs. Conventional
1
s intermediate principal stress rubber mounts are not only popularly used in vehicle
2
s minimum principal stress PMSs but are also used in the vehicle cab mounting
3
s uniaxial yield stress system, the wheel suspension system and other mobile
k
s compressive yield strength or stationary machines’ mounting systems. Prediction
C
s tensile yield strength and analysis of static and dynamic characteristics of a
T
rubber mount are necessary in its design and develop-
ment. The
nite element method (FEM ) has been a
1 INTRODUCTION powerful tool for the simulation of the performances of
rubber mounts at their development stage, which can
Nowadays the vehicle powertrain mounting system help signi
cantly to reduce trial-and-error cycles, proto-
(PMS ) is playing a more and more important role typing and testing workload, time to market and total
cost. By using FEM-based computer-aided engineering
The MS was received on 30 November 2001 and was accepted after technology, problems in design can be identi
ed in time,
revision for publication on 11 September 2002.
* Corresponding author: Department of Automotive Engineering, inuential factors such as key parameters and shape can
Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China. be analysed conveniently and re-design and re-analysis
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966 L-R WANG, Z-H LU AND I HAGIWARA

can be performed more e
ciently. Furthermore, simu-

lation results can be applied to the design optimization
of the PMS. However, FEM simulations of rubber
mounts are di
cult owing to the rubber material’s non-
linearity and the large deformation of rubber parts.
Fortunately, with rapid developments of numerical
methods and commercial computer codes, the
nite
element analysis ( FEA) of rubber components has pro-
gressed rapidly in many engineering areas. A number of
FEA codes have been updated with rubber hyperelastic-
ity models, such as ABAQUS, ADINA, ANSYS and
MARC [1, 2].
In the automotive industry, many engineers have been
trying to apply FEA to rubber product designs. Morman
et al. analysed the static and dynamic characteristics of
the rubber mount of an engine and the rubber bush of
a suspension unit [1–3], and Nicholson and Nelson ana- Fig. 1 Rubber mounts
lysed the static characteristics of a rubber exhaust hanger
[4]. Charlton and Yang analysed the performance of a
non-pneumatic rubber tyre [5]. Choi predicted the elastic
characteristics of automotive rubber bushing [6 ], and
Smith and Thornhill predicted the intemal pressure per-
formance on a spring-eye of rubber bushing [7]. Lee
et al. carried out shape parameter optimization of engine
mounts [8]. Most of these researchers employed
ABAQUS. However, numerical instability and inaccur-
acy usually aect FEM simulations of rubber compo-
nents with complex geometry in the large deformation
region owing to element locking, and the numerical pro-
cedure is often interrupted long before the expected
deformation is reached. Matsuda analysed the locking
mode and hourglass mode of various kinds of inte-
gration elements based on a selective integration method Fig. 2 Hydraulically damped rubber mount
and mixed formulation for hyperelasticity [9].
In this paper, modelling procedures for the rubber
teristics of rubber mounts. To investigate
nite element
spring of a hydraulically damped rubber mount ( HDM )
modelling and simulation methods of a rubber compo-
are discussed on the basis of three types of
nite element
nent, three types of
nite element models are devel-
models. The stability and accuracy of the FEMs with
oped for the HDM rubber spring using PATRAN 9.0.
dierent element integration methods are investigated in
The numerical calculations are carried out using
static characteristic simulations of the rubber spring with
ABAQUS/Standard version 5.8 on an SGI Origin 2000
the commercial FEA codes PATRAN, ABAQUS and
supercomputer and ADINA 7.5 on a DELL 530 com-
ADINA. The modelling techniques for the rubber spring
puter with two 1.7 GHz central processing units (CPUs).
are veri
ed by comparing the experimental and simu-
lational results of vertical elastic characteristics. 2.1.1 Axisymmetric model

As shown in Fig. 3, the HDM rubber spring is simpli
ed

2 FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING OF RUBBER
MOUNT
2.1 Finite element models of rubber mount
Several kinds of engine mounts, including rubber mounts
and the HDM, used in vehicle powertrain systems are
shown in Figs 1 and 2. The static elastic characteristics
of engine mounts are dominated by their rubber parts.
The rubber spring of the HDM in Fig. 2 is selected for
the study of FEM-based simulations of the static charac-
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to be axisymmetric by neglecting some minor non-
axisymmetric features of the rubber part. A CAX4RH
element (four-node bilinear, reduced integration with
hourglass control, hybrid element with constant press-
ure) and a CAX4H element (four-node bilinear, hybrid
element with constant pressure) displacement/pressure
elements are selected to mesh the rubber component. A
CAX4 element (four-node bilinear) is used to mesh the
metal upper body, middle body and metal reinforcing
part in the rubber spring and the uid track body. The
axisymmetric model with CAX4RH or CAX4H rubber
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 FE SIMULATION OF A VEHICLE RUBBER MOUNT
Fig. 3 Axisymmetric model
elements has 481 elements, 513 nodes and 1471 degrees
of freedom (DOF ). An additional rigid body as a load-
ing head is de
ned to be in contact with the top end of
the upper body and given a vertical loading displacement
to the reference node of the rigid body. Contact surfaces
between the inner part of the rubber component and the
top plane of the uid track body are de
ned. The lower
plane of the uid track body is
xed, and the middle
body is truncated and
xed at the bottom face.
2.1.2 Quarter-symmetric model
As shown in Fig. 4, a quarter-symmetric model of the
rubber spring is built owing to its quarter symmetry in
geometry and load. A C3D8RH element (eight-node
linear brick, reduced integration with hourglass con-
trol, hybrid element with constant pressure), a C3D8H
element (eight-node linear brick, hybrid element with
constant pressure), a C3D20RH element ( 20-node quad-
ratic brick, reduced integration with hourglass control,
hybrid element with linear pressure) and a C3D20H
element (20-node quadratic brick, hybrid element with
linear pressure) are used to mesh the rubber component.
A C3D8 element (eight-node linear brick) and a C3D20
element (20-node quadratic brick) are adopted to mesh
the metal part embedded in the rubber spring and the
middle body respectively. The quarter-symmetric model
with C3D8RH or C3D8H rubber elements has 4107
Fig. 4 Quarter-symmetric model
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967
elements, 4946 nodes and 17 998 DOF, and the model
with C3D20RH or C3D20H rubber elements has 4981
elements, 29 655 nodes and 80 642 DOF. To save
unnecessary computations, the upper body and uid
track body are de
ned as rigid bodies. The vertical load-
ing displacement is given at the reference node of the
rigid upper body. Contact surfaces between the inner
part of the rubber component and the rigidi
ed uid
track body are de
ned. The rigidi
ed uid track body is

xed, and the middle body is truncated and also
xed.
2.1.3 Three-dimensionl model
In order to study the static elastic characteristics of the
rubber spring in all directions, a three-dimensional
model is developed, as shown in Fig. 5. C3D8RH and
C3D8H elements are used to mesh the rubber compo-
nent, and a C3D8 element is adopted to mesh the metal
part embedded in the rubber spring and middle body.
The three-dimensional model with C3D8RH or C3D8H
rubber elements has 4208 elements, 8188 nodes and
17 479 DOF. The upper body is also de
ned as a rigid
body, and the vertical loading displacement is given at
the reference node of the rigid body. The middle body
is also truncated and
xed.
Hybrid element locking in
nite element computation of
nearly incompressible rubber materials results in conver-
gence problems, poor accuracy or even failure of compu-
tation. The element types used for incompressible or
nearly incompressible rubber materials need to be care-
fully selected to avoid volumetric locking within some
areas and an inaccurate numerical solution, which
usually disturb or even interrupt solution procedure.
Three-node two-dimensional triangular and four-node
three-dimensional tetrahedral linear displacement /
constant pressure elements perform poorly for incom-
pressible materials owing to element volumetric locking,
and four-node quadrilateral and eight-node hexahedral
linear displacement /constant pressure elements are gen-
erally more accurate [11]. In general, volumetric locking
can be eliminated by reduced integration within
elements, which is often an eective way to obtain an
accurate solution of
nite element models in mixed for-
mulation [12]. For non-linear large deformation incom-
pressible rubber components,
nite element solution
Fig. 5 Three-dimensional model
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 216 Part D: J Automobile Engineering
968 L-R WANG, Z-H LU AND I HAGIWARA

procedures with second-order elements, such as six-node
triangle, eight- and nine-node quadrilaterals or 10-node
tetrahedral, and 20- or 27-node hexahedral quadrilateral
displacement /linear pressure elements, often fail more
rapidly and give less accurate solutions, owing to distor-
tion of higher-order elements, than
nite element models
with linear elements [11]. Many
nite element modelling
techniques and solution methods for incompressible
materials have been studied [11–13]; however, they are
largely dependent on problems considered. In this paper,

nite element models with reduced integration, full inte-
gration,
rst- and second-order hybrid elements are
investigated in static elastic characteristic simulations of
an HDM rubber spring.
generated above. The predicted static elastic character-
istics of the rubber spring are given in Figs 6 and 7. It
can be seen that the vertical elastic characteristic is linear
before deformation reaches 12.6 mm and then shows
hard elasticity beyond this point, at which the inner part
of the rubber component makes contact with uid track
body. The complete contact between them comes at a
loading displacement of 14 mm. After this point, the pre-
dicted elastic characteristic of the axisymmetric model
with CAX4H elements exhibits harder elasticity than
experimental results. This is mainly because of the
numerical inaccuracies resulting from serious distortions

2.2 Determination of rubber material hyperelasticity

model

An accurate constitutive law of a material is critical to

nite element simulation of rubber components. The
constitutive law of rubber is generally expressed by
hyperelasticity, which is di
cult to determine owing to
its material and geometric non-linear properties. In this
paper, the constitutive law of rubber hyperelasticity is
obtained according to the method and procedure pre-
sented in reference [14]. First, uniaxial tension and com-
pression tests of rubber specimens were carried out on
a universal material testing machine (DES-500, made in
Japan) following the Chinese test standards GB/ T 58-92
and GB/ T 775793. Test specimens were made directly
from rubber parts of a brand-new HDM unit shown in
Fig. 2. The specimens were pre-conditioned at the begin-
ning of tests to avoid abnormal stiness behaviour due
to Mullins’ eect. During testing, the tension specimens
were stretched at a constant rate of 100 mm/min until
broken after several tension cycles. Compression speci-
mens were compressed at a constant rate of 5 mm/min
until the compression strain reached 50 per cent. Then,
tension and compression test simulations with a one-
element model and
nite element models of the exper-
imental specimen were carried out. Candidate constitut-
ive laws of rubber material hyperelasticity were obtained
on the basis of comprehensive evaluations of results
of comparisons between experimental and simulation
results of various strain energy functions in appropriate
strain ranges. The
nally determined strain energy
function of the rubber component is of Mooney–Rivlin
form with coe
cients C =0.409 MPa and C =
10 01

0.0199 MPa.

3 STATIC CHARACTERISTIC SIMULATION OF

HDM RUBBER SPRING

3.1 Static elastic characteristic simulation analysis

Static elastic characteristics of the HDM rubber spring Fig. 6 Comparisons of predicted (using ABAQUS ) and meas-
are numerically simulated with the
nite element models ured vertical elastic characteristics
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 FE SIMULATION OF A VEHICLE RUBBER MOUNT 969

predicted results of static elastic characteristics with

dierent
nite element models, the following key points
are observed.

1. The predicted vertical elastic characteristics with axi-

Fig. 7 Elastic characteristic simulations under dierent loads
using ADINA
of some elements and large strains in some areas of the
model; the large strains have gone beyond the applicable
strain range of the adopted constitutive law of rubber
hyperelasticity. The static elastic characteristic simu-
lation of the rubber spring under the normal working
condition of the HDM before its inner contact occurred
is essential to the design and evaluation of the HDM.
Thus, the elastic characteristic simulation of the HDM
focuses mainly on its normal working conditions. On the
basis of comparisons of computation procedures and
symmetric, quarter-symmetric and three-dimensional

nite element models are all close to the test result of
the HDM rubber spring, and the errors between any
of the predicted results and measurement are accept-
able in engineering, as shown in Fig. 6 and Table 1.
The axisymmetric models are suitable for initial
design analysis, and the three-dimensional model may
be necessary for the accurate calculation of static
elastic characteristics for the
nal design.
2. The predicted static elastic characteristics of the
rubber spring under combined loadings in both verti-
cal direction 2 and horizontal direction 1, as shown
in Fig. 7, demonstrate that the vertical and the hori-
zontal elastic characteristics vary with the load. Thus,
the magnitude and direction of the real load of a
rubber mount under working conditions should be
considered in its elastic characteristic design and
analysis.
3. Hybrid element locking is a key issue in the large
deformation simulation computations of the quarter-
symmetric and three-dimensional models, which is
caused by serious element distortion. The element
locking can be lessened by proper meshing and
element selections including node number of displace-
ment and pressure, integral formulations, interpola-
tions of displacement and pressure. The numerical
experimental analyses of the elastic characteristics of
the rubber spring show that the distortions of reduced
integration, linear interpolation elements are less than
those of full integration and quadratic interpolation
elements, and too
ne a mesh exhibits more sensitivity
to element volumetric locking especially in the large
strain areas.
In summary, the proper element type, integration
scheme and reasonable meshing strategy are all import-
ant to modelling and simulation of large deformation
rubber components to avoid poor accuracy and failure
from element locking.

Table 1 Comparisons of simulation procedure and results with dierent
nite element models using ABAQUS

Axisymmetric model Quarter-symmetric model Three-dimensional model

CAX4RH CAX4H C3D8RH C3D8H C3D20RH C3D20H C3D8RH C3D8H Experiment

Vertical linear
stiness (N/mm) 148.41 150.40 146.09 146.088 154.601 153.947 161.73 165.71 155.36
16 mm
Final loading (15 mm set in
displacement (mm) 14.4 15 8.86 12.18 9.04 9.66 6.87 15 calculation)
Computation time (s)
with 2 CPUs 45 33 1800 3000 13 920 21 360 1980 420

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970 L-R WANG, Z-H LU AND I HAGIWARA

3.2 Strain and stress analysis pressure, with the resultant eect that the yield stresses
are dierent in tension and compression. Some modi
ed
Detailed strain and stress distributions of rubber and von Mises’ criteria are suggested for polymers, one of
its metal reinforcing part are analysed. A quarter- which is as follows [15]:
symmetric rubber spring model with a C3D8H element
is used, and a typical vertical load of 1208 N is applied. (s
s )2+(s
s )2
The vertical displacement contour, shown in Fig. 8a, 1 2 2 3
+(s
s )2+2(s
s ) (s +s +s )
reveals the main shear deforming area of the spring 3 1 C T 1 2 3
rubber. The strain energy density contour on the cross- =2s s (2)
section, shown in Fig. 8b, indicates that the maximum C T
strain energy occurred at corners A and C, and the strain where s +s +s accounts for the eect of hydrostatic
1 2 3
energies in the area around the line A–C are higher than stress; s and s are the absolute values of the compress-
C T
elsewhere. The maximum principal strain and von Mises ive and tensile yield strengths. If s =s , equation (2)
C T
stress distributions, shown in Figs 8c and d, are very degenerates to the conventional von Mises criterion of
similar to each other. The von Mises stress criterion is equation (1). For a glassy polymer, the ratio of the com-
usually used as a yielding criterion for metals and is pressive yield stress to the tensile yield stress is 1.3 in
expressed as general [15], but there is no general yielding criterion
for anti-vibration rubber so far. In the present case, the
(s
s )2+(s
s )2+(s
s )2=2s2 (1)
1 2 2 3 3 1 k von Mises stress, which represents the eective stress, is
Yielding of a metallic material will occur when the shear regarded as a stress measure for the yielding of the
strain energy in it reaches a critical value. However, rubber spring. However, its eectiveness needs to be veri-
equation (1) is not exactly suitable for polymers such as
ed by future experiments.
rubber because the hydrostatic stress of rubber is not The normal vertical static load of the rubber spring
considered. The yielding of a polymer has been found under working conditions is about 800 N, corresponding
to be dependent on the magnitude of the hydrostatic to a loading displacement of about 5.34 mm. Von Mises

Fig. 8 Contours of rubber spring under vertical load of 1208 N

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 FE SIMULATION OF A VEHICLE RUBBER MOUNT 971

stress contours of the rubber part under load between

797 and 1388 N (i.e. 5.25–9.28 mm loading displace-
ment), shown in Fig. 9, show that the stress distributions
are almost the same during the loading process. The
maximum von Mises stress under a static load of 1388 N
is 1.26 MPa, which is much smaller than the tensile
strength of 3–21 MPa for natural rubber [16 ].
The maximum von Mises stress of the rubber compo-
nent under a dierent combined loading, illustrated in
Fig. 10b, shows that the maximum von Mises stress
increases non-linearly with the load in the horizontal
direction 1.
The von Mises stress distribution of the metal reinforc-
ing part in the rubber spring is given in Fig. 11, which
shows that the inner comer area of the metal part with-
stands the maximum stress. The maximum and mini-
mum principal stress distributions of the rubber spring,
shown in Fig. 12, reveal that the metal reinforcing part
experiences both the maximum tension and the maxi-
mum compression stresses. Although the yield strength
of steel is much larger than that of rubber material, the
con
guration of the metal part has signi
cant inuences
on the deformation and stress distribution of the
rubber spring.
The static elastic characteristic simulation method and
strain–stress analysis method developed in the previous

Fig. 10 Von Mises stress distribution of three-dimensional

model (MPa)

Fig. 11 Von Mises stress distribution of the metal reinforcing

part in the rubber spring under a vertical load of
1208 N (MPa)

sections are useful for evaluating rubber mount perform-

ances and hence seeking ways to improve the designs of
rubber mounts. The elastic characteristics can be
re-analyzed and re-designed more e
ciently by modi
-
cation of the rubber spring and reinforcing metal parts.
The methods are also useful in terms of identifying and
hence preventing any potential damage or failure of a
Fig. 9 Von Mises stress contours of rubber component (MPa) particular rubber mount under given working conditions
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972
Fig. 12 Principal stress distributions of rubber spring
through detailed stress analysis based on the
nite
element predictions.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The
nite element modelling and static elastic character-
istic simulation methods for large deformation rubber
components are studied in detail on the basis of axi-
symmetric, quarter-symmetric and three-dimensional
models of an HDM rubber spring. Some conclusions are
drawn as follows.
1. Several
nite element modelling techniques for the
large deformation static simulation of rubber compo-
nents are investigated through numerical tests. The
selection of element types and mesh forms is import-
ant to prevent element locking and to enhance com-
putational performance. The selected lower-order full
integration elements show less distortion than higher-
order reduced integration elements and thus are suit-
able for large deformation
nite element simulation
of rubber components.
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L-R WANG, Z-H LU AND I HAGIWARA
2. Vertical and horizontal static elastic characteristics of
the HDM rubber spring are predicted with the
nite
element simulation method, and the predicted results
compare well with the experimental ones. The eec-
tiveness of several
nite element models with dierent
element types is thus evaluated.
3. Static strain, stress and strain energy density distri-
butions under dierent loads are analysed. Von Mises
stress contours can eectively represent the eective
stress state.
4. The non-linear elastic characteristics of the HDM
rubber spring are dependent on both magnitude and
direction of the applied load, and so the simula-
tions should be performed according to its actual
working states.
The present modelling and simulation method for the
HDM rubber spring can be directly applied to static
characteristic simulations of other types of conventional
rubber mounts.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was
nancially supported by the Research
Foundation of the China Ministry of Education and the
Research Fund of Tsighua University.
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