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The correct quantification of airborne sources and their transfer to the vehicle interior noise enables vehicle manufacturers to set system targets and to assess interior noise effects of new or modified systems. Measurements on complete vehicles and on test-beds for body, engine, exhaust, tire, HVAC etc. can then be used to estimate interior noise contributions and choose an optimal level of solutions. This study addresses exhaust tailpipe airborne noise emission in a highly controlled situation; indoors and with an exhaust simulator. Two methods of characterization are compared. One method uses the sound pressure very close to the active source as a source strength combined with pressure transmissibility to estimate the interior noise contributions. The other method uses an inverse estimate of the source volume acceleration and the pressure over volume acceleration transfer for the same purpose. The methods of airborne contribution analysis are briefly described.

The tendency for car engines to reduce the cylinder number and increase the specific torque at low rpm has led to significantly higher levels of low frequency pulsation from the exhaust tailpipe. This is a challenge for exhaust system design, and equally for body design and vehicle integration. The low frequency panel noise contributions were identified using pressure transmissibility and operational sound pressure on the exterior. For this the body was divided into patches. For all patches the pressure transmissibility across the body panels into the interior was measured as well as the sound field over the entire surface of the vehicle body. The panel contributions, the pressure distribution and transmissibility distribution information were combined with acoustic modal analysis in the cabin, providing a better understanding of the airborne transfer.

Structural and vibro-acoustic transfer functions still form an essential part of NVH data in vehicle development programs. Excitation in the three DOFs at all body interface connection locations to target responses gives information on local dynamics stiffness and the body sensitivity for that specific path in an efficient manner. However, vehicles become more compact for fuel efficiency, production costs and to meet the market demand for urban vehicles. Alternative driveline concepts increase the electronic content and new mount locations. To achieve the optimum on road noise NVH, handling performance while conserving interior space and trunk volume requires a complex suspension layout. On top of that, customers put weight on safety and comfort systems which result to a higher packaging density. These trends imply ever limiting accessibility of the interface connections on the body structure.

The need for more durable mobility has led to a rapid introduction of new electric systems on vehicles. The result of the application of electrified drivelines is a shift in noise energy from the low mid frequencies towards the upper end of the audible range. Following this, the need for higher frequency noise control and accurate measurement has grown. The measurement of the acoustic transfer or vehicle body isolation at higher frequencies poses a challenge for the diffraction, source level and omni-directionality. This paper shows an improved method that increases the accuracy of acoustic transfer function measurements from the components to the ear at high frequencies. A simulation model based on the Boundary Element Methods(BEM) has been made to analyze higher frequency behavior of noise sources during reciprocal measurements up to 12 kHz. Some dedicated hardware was developed in combination with a new process.

Road-tire induced vibrations are in many vehicles determining the interior noise levels in (semi-) constant speed driving. The understanding of the noise contributions of different connections of the suspension systems to the vehicle is essential in improvement of the isolation capabilities of the suspension- and body-structure. To identify these noise contributions, both the forces acting at the suspension-to-body connections points and the vibro-acoustic transfers from the connection points to the interior microphones are required. In this paper different approaches to identify the forces are compared for their applicability to road noise analysis. First step for the force identification is the full vehicle operational measurement in which target responses (interior noise) and indicator responses (accelerations or other) are measured.

Impact noise, inside a car, due to tire-launched gravel on the road can lead to loss of quality perception. Gravel noise is mainly caused by small-sized particles which are too small to be seen on the road by the driver. The investigation focuses on the identification of the mechanisms of excitation and transfer. The spatial distribution of the particles flying from a tire is determined, as well as the probable impact locations on the vehicle body-panels. Finally the relative noise contributions of the body-panels are estimated by adding the panel-to-ear transfer functions. This form of Transfer-Path-Analysis allows vehicle optimization and target setting on the level of the tires, exterior panel treatment and isolation.

One of the key elements in efforts to minimize the noise emmissionis of engines and other machinery is the knowledge of the main noise radiating surfaces and the relation between measurable surface vibration and the sound pressure. Under the name of Airborne Source Quantification (ASQ), various techniques have been developed to discretize and quantify the source strength, and noise contributions, of vibrating surface patches of machinery or vehicle components. The noise contributions of patches to the sound pressure at specific locations in the sound field or to the total radiated sound power are identified. The source strength of equivalent point sources, the acoustic transfer from the source surface to critical sound field locations and finally the sound pressure contributions of the individual patches are quantified. These techniques are not unique to engine application, but very relevant for engine development. An example is shown for an engine under artificial excitation.

Typically pass-by noise evaluation is performed very late in the vehicle development cycle and any changes or modifications are costly, making an exterior modeling procedure compatible with both test and math-based techniques desirable. This paper demonstrates how the Airborne Source Quantification (ASQ) technique can be applied to modeling vehicle exterior noise. The results of this study also show that the source strength of individual sub-systems, i.e. the engine or transmission, can be determined independently from the full vehicle using a sub-system dynamometer. Results are correlated by assessing source strength and overall pass-by sound pressure level.

The vibration-generating mechanisms inside an engine are highly non-linear (combustion, valve operation, hydraulic bearing behavior, etc.). However, the engine structure, under the influence of these vibration-generating mechanisms, responds in a highly linear way. For the development and optimization of the engine structure for noise and vibration it is beneficial to use fast and ‘simple’ linear models, like linear FE-models, measured modal models or measured FRF-models. All these models allow a qualitative assessment of variants without excitation information. But, for true optimization, internal excitation spectra are needed in order to avoid that effort is spent to optimize non-critical system properties. Unfortunately, these internal excitation spectra are difficult to measure. Direct measurement of combustion pressure is still feasible, but crank-bearing forces, piston guidance forces etc. can only be identified indirectly.