Engine mount design & failure analysis in commercial vehicle and a correlation between virtual & physical validation.

Vehicle life and performance is affected by many factors when in use. The most influential being the vibrations generated especially when the vehicle is in motion. These vibrations are directly experienced by the driver, whose performance goes down, if under continuous influence of these vibrations. This increases the fatigue and greatly reduces the return on investment done by the customer. There are two major sources of vibrations, the engine and the road on which the vehicle moves. To prevent such issues engine mounts are used in vehicles, which may seem simple but perform a critical role, of providing comfort to the driver. Therefore it becomes important that thoroughly designed and examined mounts are being used in the vehicle. This paper focuses on the parameters and methodology to be followed for design and validation of an engine mount used in heavy duty vehicles. Case study has been presented to show the failure cases in an engine mount, especially the separation of rubber and metal bonding. Importance of surface pre-treatments to have better bonding has been discussed in detail. Virtual validation that includes FEA and modal analysis is done to understand the structural strength and FOS of the complete system. This paper provides a complete guideline to the designer for better designing and failure analysis for different types of engine mounts.