A vibro-acoustic reduced order model using undeformed coupling interface substructuring – Application to rubber bushing isolation in vehicle suspension systems

A vibro-acoustic reduced order model (ROM) based on a substructuring method using undeformed coupling interfaces (UCI) is proposed. The method may be used to reduce the order of a global problem, this by subdividing the global system to substructures interacting through UCI’s. The local dynamic stiffness of each substructure may then be modelled with a, for that particular problem, best suited description. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated by a sensitivity analysis of the vibro-acoustic power isolation in a vehicle suspension system, comprising of a link arm connected to a vehicle car body through two rubber bushings. The link arm ROM is a component mode synthesis (CMS)-UCI, the rubber bushing model is a UCI-ROM derived from a 2D axisymmetric model using a frequency dependent visco-elastic material model. Finally the car body model is a frequency dependent UCI-ROM from a full car body finite element model. It is shown that the UCI-ROM approach efficiently can be used for parametric studies on a substructure level. The results suggest that the performed reorientation of the rubber bushings can alter, with orders of magnitude, the energy flow into the car.