Application of indirect measurement techniques

to an operating diesel engine

Q. Leclère, C. Pézerat, B. Laulagnet

INSA Lyon, Laboratoire Vibrations Acoustique,
25 bis avenue Jean Capelle 69621 Villeurbanne, France
e-mail: leclere@lva.insa-lyon.fr
L. Polac
Renault, Direction de la Mécanique,
67 rue des bons raisins 92500 Rueil-Malmaison, France

Abstract
This paper deals with the indirect measurement of internal dynamic loads of an operating diesel engine.
Direct measurement of excitations like piston slap or bearing loads is really difficult to implement with
force sensors. Thus, their estimation is indirectly assessed from both a transfer model of the structure and
operating response measurements. Techniques used in this work are limited to identification problems for
which the studied machine is operating in stationary conditions, and all excitation areas are a priori known.
There are two major difficulties when implementing such inverse approaches. On the one hand the transfer
matrix inversion is known to generate an important sensitivity, i.e. a small change on input data (operating
responses or transfer functions) causes a large deviation of output data (identified excitations). This difficulty
is generally overcome by using regularization techniques as truncated SVD or Tikhonov. On the other
hand, the reliability of the solution depends on the good concordance between the transfer model and the
real operating structure. This second difficulty is a more penalizing one, because there is no mathematical
solution to overcome it. In this contribution, internal excitations of the engine are identified from both
acceleration measurements and two different transfer models. The first one is based on measurements and
the second one on finite element computations. Truncated SVD is used to regularize the system. A pragmatic
tool, known as the L-curve principle, is used to adjust the regularizing parameter. Forces identified with either
measured or computed transfer functions are compared between one another to assess their reliability. A
time-domain recomposition method is introduced, and time-domain identified excitations are shown. Finally,
internal sources are ranked in function of their contribution to the timing belt side mount acceleration.

1 Introduction

Indirect Force Measurement (IFM) has been a hot topic in acoustics and vibration research since the end of
the seventies. First studies were carried out in the aeronautic domain, by Bartlett and Flannelly [1]. The prin-
ciple is to assess forces applied to a structure from a matrix transfer function and from operational response
measurements, the structure becoming its own force sensor (cf. Stevens [2]). The principal difficulty of this
inverse approach is its hypersensitivity, i.e. small deviations of input data (transfer functions or measured
responses) induce large changes on recovered forces. Thus, regularization procedures have been used since
first IFM works, see Powell and Seering [3]. A second difficulty is that responses have to be expressed in
the Fourier domain, and this point is not obvious if measured responses are not totally coherent with one
another. IFM formulations applicable to this kind of situation, involving response and force cross-spectral
matrices, are used by Roggenkamp and Bernhard [4].
The main interest of this paper, presented in a first part, is to gather different IFM techniques to construct a
global methodology, including recent developments [5], notably an iterative weighting process presented for

2931
2932 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

the first time in this communication. Second and third parts are dedicated to an industrial application to a
diesel engine, showing encouraging results.

2 Indirect Force Measurement (IFM) method

The principle of Indirect Force Measurement is to assess dynamic excitations acting on a given structure
from a dynamic model and from operating response measurements. This is a typical inverse problem, known
to be very sensitive to measurement and model errors.

2.1 basic relation

We are dealing with cases for which excitation are a priori localized. In this case, the relation between
response measurements and excitation points can be expressed, in the fourier domain, as a matrix equation :

{X(ω)}m = [H(ω)]mn {F (ω)}n , (1)

with {X(ω)}m vector of responses,

{F (ω)}n vector of excitations
and [H(ω)]mn matrix of frequency response functions.

Elements of matrix [H(ω)]mn are frequency response functions between measurement points (on the rows)
and excitation points (on columns). Elements of {X(ω)}m and {F (ω)}n are respectively response and
force complex spectra. All operations described in this paper are applied for each spectral line, frequency
dependance expressed by (ω) is implied but not written explicitly in the following.

2.2 Extraction of incoherent responses

This paper is focalized on stationary operating conditions. Signals acquired from response sensors are stored
into a cross-spectral matrix made of auto and cross spectra. The first thing to do with a large cross-spectral
matrix is to determine the number of incoherent processes superimposed on the global response. This is done
by computing the eigenvalue decomposition of the cross-spectral matrix for each frequency step :

[SXX ]mm = [Φ]mm pΣymm [Φ]∗mm , (2)

with [SXX ] the response cross-spectral matrix,

pΣy the diagonal matrix of eigenvalues,
[Φ] matrix of eigenvectors arranged in columns
and [Φ]∗ complex conjugate transpose of [Φ].

The number of non negligible eigenvalues corresponds to the number of incoherent processes that are su-
perimposed on the cross-spectral matrix. Incoherent deflection shapes can be assessed from (2). Assuming
pσ 2 y = pΣy, we can write :
[SXX ]mm = [χ]mp [χ]Tpm , (3)

with [χ]mp = [Φ]mp pσ ypp ,

[Φ]mp conjugate of [Φ]mp ,
[χ]Tpm transpose of [Φ]mp
and p the number of non negligible eigenvalues.
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2933

Columns of [χ]mp can be considered as p incoherent deflection shapes. This decomposition, known as
principal component analysis, is the basis of virtual coherence techniques [6]. Incoherent deflection shapes
can be directly inserted in the basic system (1) :

[χ]mp = [H(ω)]mn [ϕ]np , (4)

with columns of [ϕ]np incoherent force distributions.

Matrix [ϕ]np is the repartition of excitation (on rows) over incoherent processes (on columns). This matrix,
that can be seen as the repartition of real sources on virtual ones, has to be identified by inverting relation
(4).

2.3 Inversion step

System (4) has to be inverted to assess [ϕ]np from [H(ω)]mn and [χ]mp . Some precautions have to be
observed, because the transfer matrix is often badly conditioned, and its inversion very sensitive to small
variations of input data. The method used to inverse the system is the weighted and regularized least squares.

2.3.1 Weighting process

Two diagonal weighting matrices are used to improved the inversion. A left-weighting matrix is used to
adjust the importance of each response channel, and a right-weighting matrix to normalize the magnitude of
unknown forces.
The least squares method minimizes the norm of a response residual quantity, and the importance of each
element of the residue depends on its magnitude. The left-weighting process is used to ’normalize’ the
transfer system in order to give equivalent weights to all response channels. A left-weighting matrix is
computed so that a set of unity uncorrelated forces gives a set of unity responses through the weighted
transfer matrix :
v −1
u
u Xn
u
Li = t |Hi,j |2  with i ∈ [1, ..., m], (5)
j=1

with Li ith element of the diagonal of pLy

and Hi,j jth element of the ith row of the transfer matrix.

The right-weighting process is useful only if a regularization is applied. Without regularization, it has strictly
no effect. The principle of regularization, which will be explained in details in the following, is to add a
constraint on the force matrix norm. Thus, the weight of each force during the regularization will depend on
its magnitude. This can lead to an unbalanced regularization if large magnitude differences exist intrinsically
between forces, for example if different units are used (forces, pressures, moments...). In a previous work [8],
excitations with different units have been all converted to Newton, thanks to a lever length for moments, or
to a surface area for pressures. In this work, this kind of normalization is standardized. The right-weighting
matrix is computed to ensure that the norms of deflection shapes produced by each unit excitation are equal :
và !−1
u m
u X
Rj = t |Hi,j |2 with j ∈ [1, ..., n], (6)
i=1

with Rj jth element of the diagonal of pRy.

2934 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

Both weighting principles cannot be verified by successive application of (5) and (6), because the right-
weighting matrix should be computed from the left-weighted transfer matrix, and inversely the left-weighting
matrix should be computed from the right-weighted transfer matrix. An iterative process has been developed
to obtain two weighting matrices satisfying the two principles.
Let pLy = f ([H]) and pRy = g([H]) be the matrix functions expressed respectively by (5) and (6). The
iterative process can be written as follows :

Initial conditions : pL1 y = pI ymm ; pR1 y = pI ynn

Loop computations : pRk y = g( pLk−1 y[H] ) −→ pLk y = f ( [H]pRk y )

¡ ¢
End-Of-Loop condition : columns of pLk y[H]pRk y have quasi-equal norms

The End-Of-Loop condition is on the equality between column¡ norms, because ¢ the left-weighting matrix is
p k p k
computed during the second step of the loop. Thus, rows of L y[H] R y at the end of the loop have
obviously a norm adjusted to unity. The quasi-equality constraint mentioned in the End-Of-Loop condition
can be formulated as follows : the standard deviation of the column norms has to be smaller than XX% of
the mean of the column norms. The value of XX can be reasonably set to 1%, the iterative operation being
not too time consuming.

2.3.2 Regularization

The inversion of the (weighted) transfer matrix can be very sensitive because of its bad conditioning. The
problem is that a small deviation of input data (frequency response functions and operating measurements)
can induce large changes on recovered forces. To overcome this difficulty, a regularization strategy is ap-
plied. The principle of least squares is to minimize a residual quantity, defined by the Frobenius norm of the
difference between the two sides of equation (4). But when the transfer matrix is badly conditioned, several
solutions exist for the force matrix, with equivalent residues. Thus, the only criterion based on the minimiza-
tion of the residue is no longer sufficient. An additional criterion, the minimization of the solution norm, is
then used to select the optimal solution. The TSVD (for Truncated Singular Value Decomposition) is used
to apply this regularizing criterion. The principle of TSVD is that the transfer matrix is considered as rank
deficient, and that the problem has an infinity of solutions. The suppression of the smallest singular values
allows one to find the solution of minimal norm. The SVD of the weighted transfer matrix is expressed by :

pLymm [H]mn pRynn = [U ]mn pS ynn [V ]∗nn , (7)

With pS ynn diagonal matrix of singular values sorted in descending order,

[V ]nn a unitary matrix
and [U ]mn such that [U ]∗nm [U ]mn = pI ynn .

The principle of TSVD is to suppress the r smallest singular values. The SVD of the weighted transfer
matrix allows one to easily invert system (4) :
· ¸
pS y−1 0
[ϕr ]np = pRynn [V ]nn rr
[U ]∗nm pLymm [χ]mp , (8)
0 0 nn

With [ϕr ]np regularized solution corresponding to r kept singular values.

The number r of kept singular values is the regularizing parameter, and the principal difficulty of a regular-
ization process is to adjust it. To adjust r, the L-curve principle is used [7]. This technique is based on the
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2935

best compromise between the two criterions that are the minimization of the solution norm on the one hand
and the minimization of the residue on the other hand. In fact, when the number of truncated singular values
increase, the norm of the solution decrease, and the norm of the residue increase. The L-curve principle
is illustrated by a parametric curve, with the (weighted) residue norm on the x-axis against the (weighted)
solution norm on the y-axis, the parameter being the number of r of kept singular values. The solution norm
is expressed in percentage of the non-regularized solution norm, and the residue norm in percentage of the
response matrix norm. The equation of the curve is given by the expression of ρN (r) and ηN (r), respectively
the normalized residue and solution norms :
kpLy([χ] − [H][ϕr ])k k(pI y − [Ur ][Ur ]∗ )pLy[χ]k
ρN (r) = = ,
kpLy[χ]k kpLy[χ]k
kpRy−1 [ϕr ]k k[V ]pSr−1 y[U ]∗ pLy[χ]k
ηN (r) = = ,
kpRy−1 [ϕn ]k k[V ]pS y−1 [U ]∗ pLy[χ]k

with [Ur ] the r first columns of [U ],

pSr−1 y inverse of pS y with the n − r last elements cancelled (see eq. (8))
and k.k for the Frobenius matrix norm.

An example of such a curve is plotted in figure 1, r varying between 0 and n. Each cross on the curve
corresponds to a given troncature. Without regularization, the solution norm is maximum, while the residue

L−curve example
ηN (solution norm in % of the non−reg. solution)

100
L − curve
optimal troncature
non−regularized case
80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
ρN (normalized residue in % of the response norm)

Figure 1: L-curve example

norm is minimum. In the vertical part of the curve, the decrease of r induces an important diminution of the
solution norm, without a significant augmentation of the residue norm. In a second part (the horizontal one),
the decrease of r induces an augmentation of the residue without an important diminution of the solution.
The optimal point of the L-curve is its angle, i.e. the point for which the solution has been very attenuated
without a significant augmentation of the residue. The method used to automatically determine the optimal
regularization is described in [8] and [5].
The cross-spectral matrix of excitations can finally be computed from [ϕr ]np :

[SF F ]nn = [ϕr ]np [ϕr ]Tpn . (9)

2936 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

2.4 Summary of the method

• Computation of the cross-spectral response matrix [SXX ]mm from m time signals.

• Computation of eigenvalues pΣymm and eigenvectors [Φ]mm of [SXX ]mm .

• Extraction of p significant deflection shapes [χ]mp :

[χ]mp = [Φ]mp pσ y ( pσ 2 y = pΣy ).

• Assessment of the transfer matrix [H]mn from measurements or from a model.

• Computation of left pLymm and right pRynn weighting matrices from the transfer matrix [H]mn (see
iterative method section 2.3.1).

• Singular Value Decomposition of the weighted transfer matrix

pLymm [H]mn pRynn = [U ]mn pS ynn [V ]∗nn .

• Estimation of incoherent force distributions [ϕr ]np with an optimal regularization r (see optimization
method section 2.3.2).
· ¸
pS y−1 0
[ϕr ]np = pRynn [V ]nn rr
[U ]∗nm pLymm [χ]mp .
0 0 nn

• Computation of the excitations cross-spectral matrix [SF F ]nn

[SF F ]nn = [ϕr ]np [ϕr ]Tpn .

3 Dynamic model of the diesel engine

The application of Indirect Force Measurement requires the knowledge of frequency response function be-
tween all potential excitations and all response measurements. In this work, two approaches are used to
assess the transfer matrix : Finite elements and experimentation.
The studied system is a Renault 1.9L DCI engine, with 4 in-line cylinders. Potential excitations are :

• Combustion forces applied by cylinder pressures on the cylinder head (x4),

• Forces applied by pistons on cylinders (x4),

• 2-axes Forces applied by the crankshaft on the 5 bearings (x10)

• and 2-axes moments applied by the crankshaft on the 5 bearings (x10).

The drive train (pistons, connecting rods and the crankshaft) is not taken into account in the model. Forces
to be identified are indeed those applied by moving parts on the engine block. Thus, the drive train is con-
sidered as an exciting part, and consequently not taken for the model.
Combustion/cylinder head forces are injected at a precise time in the engine cycle. At this time, the piston is
very close to the cylinder head, and the top of cylinders are practically not excited. Exposed surfaces are the
piston tops and cylinder head. Moreover, the cylinder head is a very stiff part of the engine, and a distributed
force is equivalent to a punctual resultant force applied on the center of the exposed surface. Thus, cylinder
pressures are modelled as punctual forces on the cylinder head, directed towards the axis of the cylinder.
Forces applied by pistons on cylinders are the combinations of 3 physical phenomena : inertial forces (gen-
erated by the moving parts), combustion forces (travelling through pistons), and piston slap (impact forces
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2937

caused by clearances between pistons and cylinders). Inertial forces are significant in low frequency only,
and the major piston slap occurring in the cycle is synchronized with the combustion. Piston/cylinder forces
are finally considered to be injected on the top of the thrust side of the cylinders.

3.1 Finite elements approach

The finite element model is made of 30000 3D and 40000 2D elements. A modal basis is computed from
0 to 10kHz, including pseudo-static modes on excitation directions to take upper residual stiffnesses into
account. Modal damping is approximately added by frequency bands in comparison with some transfer
functions measured on the real engine.

3.2 Experimental approach

Figure 2: Excitation devices

An engine block without the drive train is used to measure transfer functions. Special experimental apparatus
are designed to inject forces inside the engine. Excitation devices are shown in figure 2.
For combustion / cylinder head forces, a rod with a force sensor at its end is inserted through a hole in the
oil pan, and excited by a shaker from the outside. For piston / cylinder forces, a similar system is used, with
a beam laying on the ground and the thrust side of the cylinder.
A more complex apparatus is designed for crankshaft / bearing excitations. Forces and moments on two
axis have to be applied to bearings. An aluminium cylinder is inserted to simulate the crankshaft, and the
2 shakers with force sensors are placed on each side of the cylinder (see figure 2). When both shakers are
driven with the same signal, a resultant force is generated at the center of the bearing. When shakers are
driven with opposite signals, a moment is generated. The obtention of frequency response functions is not
so easy, because the mass of the aluminium cylinder inserted between force sensors and the bearing has to
be considered. Another difficulty is that pure force and moments cannot be really applied to bearings with
this 2 shakers system, but they can be assessed by an appropriate post-treatment. All these operations are
described in [5].
2938 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

25
5
20
0
15
frf magnitude (m.s /N dB)

frf magnitude (m.s /Nm dB)

−5 10
−2

−2
−10 5

0
−15
−5
−20 Experimental FRF
Computed FRF −10 Experimental FRF
Computed FRF
−25
−15

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 −20

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 3: Experimental versus finite element FRF. On the left : vertical force on bearing #4 and vertical
acceleration on bearing cap #4. On the right : horizontal moment on bearing #1 and longitudinal acceleration
on bearing cap #1.

Two computed and measured FRF are given in figure 3. General trends are in good agreements, but some
local differences up to 5 dB appear locally, above 1.5kHz. The most credible approach between Finite
Elements and experimentation cannot be easily pointed out. The FE results are conditioned by model error,
and experimental results by measurement error, that is certainly non negligible due to the complexity of
excitation devices.

4 experimental application

The engine is mounted on a bench, and coupled to a magnetic power brake to apply a given load. Op-
erating measurements are realized with a 32 channels acquisition system. 4 channels are dedicated to the
measurement of cylinder pressures. 14 accelerometers are fixed on bearing caps inside the engine. 14 oth-
ers accelerometers are distributed on external faces of the engine block. Cylinder pressures are 4 of the 28
considered excitations (see section 3). To inject them in the basic relation (1), the transfer matrix is extended
with a unity matrix :    

 P 1 
 1 0 0 0 0 ... 0  P 

 P2    1 

 
  0 1 0 0 0 ... 0   


  
  P2 
 


 P 3 
  0 0 1 0 0 ... 0    


 P4     
 P 3 

0 0 0 1 0 . . . 0 
=   P 4 , (10)
  

 
   F1  

 X1 
   .. 
 . 
 
   


 . 
  H  . 

 


 . 
  
  F24
X28

with Pi cylinder pressure # i,

Xi response of accelerometer # i,
H transfer matrix between the 28 excitations and the 28 responses
and Fi the ith internal excitation other than cylinder pressure.

This operation improves the conditioning of the transfer matrix and thus the reconstruction of non-directly
measured excitations (F1 to F2 4).

4.1 Number of incoherent phenomena

The number of incoherent phenomena, p in equation (3), depends on both frequency and operating point. An
operating point is given by an engine speed in rpm, and an engine load, static torque transmitted to the power
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2939

brake. At high speed and high load, there is only one significant phenomenon up to 5 kHz. At idle, there is
also a dominant phenomenon, but contributions of secondary virtual sources are no longer negligible. The
contribution of the first 4 phenomena to the sum of measured acceleration autospectra are given in figure 4
for 3 operating points. It is clear that for OP (Operating Point) 3500rpm/164Nm (high speed, high load), the
difference between the contributions of the first and second virtual sources vary between 30 dB and 20 dB
from 0 to 5kHz. For OP 1400rpm/23Nm, the difference vary between 20 and 3 dB, and at Idle, between 10
and 0dB. Thus, it can be said that a unique virtual source exists at high speed and high load (all acquisition
channels are coherent), but this is not true for low speed or low loads.
Operating point 810rpm 0Nm Operating point 1400rpm 23Nm
20 30
virtual source #1 virtual source #1
virtual source #2 virtual source #2
virtual source #3 virtual source #3
10 virtual source #4 20 virtual source #4
Acceleration magnitude (ms ) in dB

Acceleration magnitude (ms ) in dB

−2 2

−2 2
0 10

−10 0

−20 −10

−30 −20

−40 −30
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
Operating point 3500rpm 164Nm
50

40
Acceleration magnitude (ms ) in dB
−2 2

30

20

10
virtual source #1
virtual source #2
0 virtual source #3
virtual source #4

−10
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz)

Figure 4: Contribution of the first 4 virtual sources to the sum of measured acceleration responses for 3
operating points.

4.2 Comparison of indirectly measured forces

Two approaches (experimental and FE-based) have been used to assess engine transfer functions (see section
3). Thus, two kinds of forces are indirectly measured : FE-based (FE) and experiment-based (EX) forces.
FE and EX forces are compared in figure 5, for OP 1400rpm/125Nm. Presented autospectra are assessed
thanks to equation (9). The 2 approaches give relatively equivalent results up to 2kHz. Above this frequency,
differences appear that can locally reach 15 dB. This observation is concordant with the comparison between
measured and computed FRF (see section 3). Meanwhile, the amplification of model errors seems to be
moderated, i.e. significant differences existing between experiment and Finite elements are not too amplified
by the inversion. This illustrates the efficiency of the regularization process.
2940 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

Vertical force on bearing #5 Horizontal moment on bearing #4

50 20
Identified force (FE model based) Identified moment (FE model based)
Identified force (Experiment based) Identified moment (Experiment based)
40 10

Moment magnitude (Nm) in dB

0
30
Force magnitude N in dB

2
−10
2

20
−20
10
−30

0
−40

−10 −50

−20 −60
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 5: Example of identified forces - Operating point 1400rpm/125Nm.

4.3 Time domain verification

We have seen that at high load and high speed, all responses — consequently excitations — are fully coherent.
Signals are also extremely deterministic. This statement is illustrated by figure 6 for OP 3500rpm/164Nm.
A time averaging procedure is realized on cylinder pressure #1. Engine cycles are determined by explosions,
and blocks extracted from one cycle time-windows are averaged. The magnitude of the fourier transform
of this average is plotted on figure 6, and compared to the autospectrum of the same signal. The 2 curves
Cylinder #1 pressure autospectrum
30
averaged autospectrum
20 autospectrum of time−averaged signal
Pressure magnitude (bar ) in dB

10
2

−10

−20

−30

−40

−50
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz)

Figure 6: Comparison between time and spectral averaging. Cylinder pressure #1, OP 3500rpm/164Nm.

are really concordant. The maximum difference, of about 2dB, appears in high frequency. It means that the
signal is extremely deterministic, phases of spectral components of the signal being constant over cycles. The
phase of the fourier transform of the time averaged signal can be used to recompose time traces of identified
excitations.
Matrix [ϕ]np (incoherent excitation distributions), identified of OP 3500rpm/164Nm, is a single vector (p =
1). Thus, phases of the fourier transform of the time-averaged signal can be injected as follow :

{F } = {ϕ}e−i][ϕ1 ] ei][F T (time−averaged cyl1 )] , (11)

operator ][.] designing the phase of a complex quantity,

ϕ1 the first component of {ϕ}, i.e. cylinder pressure #1,
{F } vector of Fourier transform of excitations
and F T (time − averaged cyl1 ) the Fourier Transform of the time-averaged cylinder pressure #1.
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2941

The first phase shift, expressed by e−i][ϕ1 ] , zeroes the phase of the first component of {ϕ}, corresponding
to the first cylinder pressure. The second phase shift, expressed by ei][F T (time−averaged cyl1 )] , imposes the
phase of the Fourier Transform of the time-averaged cylinder pressure #1 to the first component of {ϕ}. This
operation has to be done for each frequency line.
Without these phase shifts, the Inverse Fourier Transform cannot be realized on {ϕ}, because phases between
frequency components are not determined. These phases are adjusted by rotating force distributions in the
complex plane with reference to a real Fourier Transform performed on cylinder pressure #1.
Finally, an Inverse Fourier Transform is realized on {F }. Inverse FT are obtained for an engine cycle. Time
representations of cylinder pressures and some recovered forces are given on figure 7. The vertical force
Cylinder pressures − OP 3500rpm 164Nm 4
x 10 Identified vertical force on bearing #4
120 1

100
0
1 3 4
2
80
Pressure (bar)

Force in N
−1
60
−2
40

FE based
−3
20 Experiment based

0 −4
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (ms) Time (ms)
Identified horizontal moment on bearing #3
200

100
Moment in Nm

−100

−200
FE based
Experiment based
−300
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Time (ms)

Figure 7: Time representation of recovered forces for operating point 3500rpm 164Nm

identified on bearing #4 is drawn at the top (right). The FE-based recovered force observes two peaks,
synchronized with explosions in cylinder #3 and #4. This observation is concordant with the reality, bearing
#4 being adjacent to cylinders #3 and #4. The 2 peaks are also visible on the Experiment-based identified
force, but this seems to be less relevant. The horizontal moment identified on bearing #3 is drawn at the
bottom of figure 7. Two peaks are visible on the FE-based recovered moment, one positive synchronized
with explosion #3 and one negative synchronized with cylinder #2. This observation is also satisfying,
because bearing #3 is adjacent to cylinders #2 and #3. Moreover, the sign of the moment applied to the
bearing depends on the excited side, the 2 peaks are thus normally of opposite sign. The FE-based recovered
moment is not so satisfying, the time representation being disturbed by low frequency components.
It is clear that time representations of recovered excitations emphasizes low frequency components, because
of the low frequency characteristic of internal forces (cf. figure 5). Meanwhile, it can be said that the FE-
model approach seems to be more correct than the Experiment approach, at least in low frequency. This can
be explained by an important noise present on measured transfer functions in this frequency range.

4.4 Internal source ranking

Identified internal excitations can be ranked according to their contributions to a given receiver point. In
this section, we will focus on the response on the TBSM (timing-belt side mount), which is a major trans-
fer path of engine vibrations towards the car frame. The contribution of groups of excitations to the 3D-
2942 P ROCEEDINGS OF ISMA2004

acceleration of the TBSM are given in figure 8 for OP 3500rpm 164Nm. On the left, partial responses to
combustion/cylinder head, piston/cylinder and crankshaft/bearing excitation groups are compared with the
total response. It can be noted first that the total response can be for some frequency bands below some
partial responses. This is explained by the fact that internal excitations are coherent and partly antagonist.
Thus, their combinations can reduce the total response level. We note that the dominant partial excitation is
obviously the crankshaft / bearing one, on the whole spectrum. Subgroups of bearing excitations are created
: vertical forces, horizontal forces, vertical moments and horizontal moments. Their contributions to TBSM
acceleration are drawn on figure 8 (on the right). Vertical forces are dominating other bearing excitations
up to 2 kHz. Horizontal moments are negligible under 1kHz, i.e. under bearing modes. It could mean that
rejecting bearing modes in higher frequencies could contribute to reduce induced vibrations.
Contributions of partial excitations Contributions of crankshaft/bearing loads
60 60
All excitations Vertical forces only
Combustion/cyl. head only Horizontal moments only
Piston/cylinder only Horizontal forces only
50 Crankshaft/bearings only 50 Vertical moments only
−2 2

−2 2
40 40
Acceleration (m.s )

Acceleration (m.s )
30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 8: Contribution of partial excitations to the timing belt side mount acceleration, Operating Point
3500rpm 164Nm.

5 conclusions

Results presented in the last section illustrate the efficiency of the proposed global IFM methodology. The
two approaches (Finite Elements and Experimentation) used to identify forces from operating responses give
equivalent results, even if in low frequency, the FE approach seems to be more efficient. The identification
of internal forces allows one to compute responses to partial excitation, and to rank their contributions to
the response. Vertical forces applied on crankshaft bearings have been identified to be the major internal
excitation, regarding the response at the timing belt side mount. Meanwhile, these results are conditioned
by two things : the good concordance between the transfer model and the real operating structure, and by
hypotheses a priori made on internal excitations.

References

[1] F.D. BARTLETT, W.G. FLANNELLY, Model Verification of force Determination for Measuring Vibra-
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[2] K.S. STEVENS, Force identification problems - an overview, in Proceedings of SEM Spring Conference
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[3] R.E. POWELL, W. SEERING, Multichannel structural inverse filtering, Journal of vibation, acoustics,
stress, and reliability in design, Vol. 106 (1984), pp.22-28.
T RANSFER PATH ANALYSIS 2943

[4] T.J. ROGGENKAMP, and R.J. BERNHARD, Indirect experimental determination of coherent force /
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[5] Q. LECLERE, Etude et développement de la mesure indirecte d’efforts, application à

l’identification des sources internes d’un moteur Diesel, PhD thesis, INSA Lyon, 2003, [on line]
http://lva.insa-lyon.fr/download/these qleclere.pdf.

[6] S.M. PRICE and R.J. BERNHARD, Virtual Coherence : A digital signal processing technique for inco-
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[7] P.C. HANSEN, The L-Curve and its Use in the Numerical Treatment of Inverse Problems, [on line]
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