This article lists some tips for reducing gear case noise. With this aim, a static analysis was carried out in order to describe how stresses resulting from meshing gears affect the acoustic emissions. Different parameters were taken into account, such as the friction, material, and lubrication, in order to validate ideas from the literature and to make several comparisons. Furthermore, a coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) analysis was performed, which was an innovative way of evaluating the sound pressure level of the aforementioned gears. Different parameters were considered again, such as the friction, lubrication, material, and rotational speed, in order to make different research comparisons. The analytical results agreed with those in the literature, both for the static analysis and CEL analysis—for example, it was shown that changing the material from steel to ductile iron improved the gear noise, while increasing the rotational speed or the friction increased the acoustic emissions. Regarding the CEL analysis, air was considered a perfect gas, but its viscosity or another state equation could have also been taken into account. Therefore, the above allowed us to state that research into these scientific fields will bring about reliable results.

In this paper, a multibody calculation methodology has been applied to the vibration analysis of a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, turbocharged diesel engine, with a simulation driven study of the angular speed variation of a crankshaft under consideration of different modeling assumptions. Moreover, time dependent simulation results, evaluated at the engine supports, are condensed to a vibration index and compared with experimental results, obtaining satisfactory outcomes. The modal analysis also considers the damping aspects and has been conducted using a multibody model created with the software AVL/EXCITE. The influence of crankshaft torsional frequencies on the rotational speed behavior has been evaluated in order to reduce the vibration phenomena. The focus of this work is related to industrial aspects since, for an existing and commercialized engine, a numerical and experimental complex study has been performed to enable design improvements aimed at reducing noise and vibrations. Existing procedures and algorithms are combined here to reach the abovementioned objectives in the most efficient way.

A 2D finite element model has been carried out to analyse temperature distribution in butt weld joints. Temperature fields have been investigated by varying both thermal properties and an initial preheating treatment. Successive thermo-mechanical analyses were performed to evaluate resulting residual stresses. Temperature distribution and residual stresses were determined in a single-pass butt joint welded by Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process. A finite element parametric model was carried out and the technique of 'element birth and death' was adopted to simulate the process of filler metal addition. By means of finite element analysis high stresses were evaluated, with particular regard to Fusion Zone (FZ) and Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ). The influence of thermal properties and preheating on residual stresses in welding was also investigated. In the last few years, various experimental destructive and non-destructive methods were developed to evaluate residual stresses. However it is impossible to obtain a full residual stress distribution in welded structures by means of experimental methods. This disadvantage can be solved by means of computational analysis, which allows to determine the whole stress and strain fields in complex structures. This paper demonstrates that the technique of 'element birth and death' is suitable to simulate welding processes. Moreover, the study of welded joints should take into consideration the effect of material thermal properties and preheating treatment. [Received 18 November 2005, Accepted 20 January 2007]