Search Results

15 years of NVH applications make Transfer Path Analysis appear a commodity tool. This is however not the case. Required insight in the application constraints makes TPA remain an expert approach. This paper reviews past progress in TPA methodology and its limitations. It then introduces a number of innovative approaches addressing these, opening new application fields. This includes speed improvement (Fast TPA), structural modeling integration (Modal Contribution Analysis), CAE integration (Hybrid TPA), sound quality interpretation (TPA-sound synthesis) and supporting better exploitation of operational data (Operational Path Analysis). An outlook is given to the next challenge, the application to transient problems.

In the eighties, the main concern in the automotive industry from a designer's standpoint was a level issue. In the nineties, the market has put more stringent requirements on the automotive industry with respect to noise in general and psychoacoustics. The governments have imposed lower limits with respect to pass-by noise standards. Customers are spending more time in their car than in the past and are demanding acoustical comfort. All of this is leading to an environment where a sound quality system is becoming a daily tool in the design and trouble-shooting world. This paper describes what should be looked for in a sound, how to quantify these properties and what tools are needed. These steps are then applied in a case study.