Abstract
A fundamental structural design consideration for a vehicle system is the overall vibration characteristics in bending and torsion. Vibration characteristics of such vehicle system are mainly influenced by the static and dynamic stiffness of the vehicle body structure and also by the material and physical properties of the components attached to the vehicle body structure. In this paper, modeling techniques for the vehicle components are presented and the flexibility and mass effects of the components for the vibration characteristics of the vehicle are investigated. The $1^{st}$ torsional frequency is increased by attaching windshields to the B.I.W. (body-in-white), but the $1^{st}$ bending frequency is decreased by the mass effect. And also, the natural frequencies of the vehicle are large decreased by attaching bumpers, seats, doors, trunk-lid etc. But, suspension system rarely affects the natural frequencies of the vehicle. The study shows thai the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle system can be effectively predicted in the initial design stage.
