Title: Exhaust System Robustness Analysis Due to Flex Decoupler Stiffness Variation
text: The function of flex decoupler is to reduce the vibration transferred from the engine to the vehicle body. The stiffness of the flex decoupler is a key parameter in the vibration control. This paper deals with decoupling exhaust hot end and cold end to minimize vibration transfer. A computer aided engineering (CAE) based design of experiment (DOE) is used to investigate the coupling stiffness. A finite element model is built to analyze the exhaust vibration responses. Robustness of the exhaust system is analyzed. The analysis reveals that vertical stiffness of the flex decoupler is the key parameter for the hanger force response. The main control factors for exhaust vertical and lateral bending frequencies are vertical and lateral stiffnesses of the decoupler, respectively.