Effect of fuel content on the human perception of engine idle irregularity

This thesis describes a digital signal processing analysis of diesel engine idle vibration in automobiles, and an analysis of the human subjective response to the idle vibration which occurs at the steering wheel. In order to quantify the variations in the diesel idle vibration that can be introduced by the engine technology, the vehicle, and the fuel type, a set of acceleration time histories were measured at the engine block and at the steering wheel for two automobiles equipped with 4-cylinder engines which had different injection systems and which operated under different fuel conditions. A combination of time domain, frequency domain and time-frequency wavelet-based analysis were used. Both the continuous wavelet transform and the discrete orthogonal wavelet transform were applied to the steering wheel acceleration time histories in order to analyse the statistical variation in terms of both instantaneous variations, and the cycle-to-cycle variations which occur across complete thermodynamic engine cycles. The combination of orthogonal wavelet transform and time-varying auto-covariance analysis, performed across a complete engine thermodynamic cycle, was identified as the most sensitive method for describing the statistical variation in diesel idle vibration. The second-order engine harmonic H2 was found to account for most of the vibrational energy at the steering wheel when at idle. Amplitude modulation of the second-order engine harmonic H2 by the half-order engine harmonic H112 has been identified as the main characteristic of the steering wheel signature of automobiles at idle. The steering wheel idle vibration produced by different engines and different fuel conditions have therefore been described in terms of the amplitude modulation depth "mil that characterises the idle waveform. Four psychophysical response tests, determined by the combination of two test protocols and two semantic descriptors, were performed. A model of the growth in the human subjective response to diesel idle vibration has been proposed in which the response scale is a function of the modulation depth parameter "mil. The model is defined over two regions of modulation depth. For values of "m" less than 0.2, humans have been found to be unable to distinguish variations in idle modulation. For values of "m" greater than 0.2, the human response grows as a power function with respect to modulation depth. Based on the current findings, suggestions for future research are also provided.