The aim of this work is to characterize the rattle noise of automotive gearboxes, resulting from impacts between toothed wheels of unselected gear ratios. Dynamic response of idle gears firstly depends on design parameters and engine operating conditions. The unknown parameters are the drag torque acting on the idle gear and characteristics of impacts between teeth.A non linear dynamic model has been developed in order to identify dynamic response of idle gears. It allows identification of excitation threshold beyond which rattle noise rises, and describes the wide variety of dynamic behaviors that are likely to appear, depending on the dimensionless excitation amplitude, the clearance between gears and the restitution coefficient of impacts between teeth. The unknown parameters have been identified experimentally through implementation of optical encoders in the gearbox and the operation of a specific acyclism test bench. Analysis of the free damped response of the gearbox allowed discrimination of the different dissipation sources (bearings, connection between idle gear and shaft, churning, etc.). Models proposed to identify the drag torque have been validated. Further tests under stationary operating conditions allowed measurement of the restitution coefficient of impacts and its velocity dependent probability density function. Experiments under controlled excitation were used to characterize the dynamic behavior of the idle gear and validate the assumptions and the numerical results obtained from the non linear dynamic model, fitted with the parameters previously identified. Finally, the transfer between the impulses generated at the gears and the housing vibration has been investigated to evaluate experimentally and numerically the criterion used to describe the rattle noise radiated from the gearbox. The implementation of the model allows analysis of the influence of the gearbox design parameters and solutions that minimize rattle noise can be proposed for all gear ratios and operating conditions of the gearbox.
