Analytical study on nonlinear frequency response and vibration isolation of multistage clutch damper in automotive powertrain

This paper studies the nonlinear frequency response and vibration isolation performance of the multistage clutch damper at resonance. First, a 2-DOF drivetrain model is established considering the piecewise-linear stiffness, piecewise-linear damping and asymmetric transition angles of the multistage clutch damper. Then, the averaging method is employed to deduce the analytical solution of the nonlinear motion equation, and the stability of the periodic solution is studied using Routh-Hurwitz criterion. The nonlinear behaviors of the oscillator are discussed based on the theoretical results, and the numerical simulation is carried out to verify the credibility of the proposed method. Finally, the sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the influence of the system parameters on the amplitude-frequency response of the multistage clutch damper. The results indicate that the isolation performance of the multistage clutch damper is sensitive to the first and second stages of damping and the first-stage transition angles. By increasing the first and second stages of viscous damping by 50% and simultaneously reducing the first-stage angle range by 3 degrees with 1 degrees asymmetry, the isolation performance of the clutch damper is effectively improved, reducing the vibration amplitude at resonance by 28.8%.