Customized Road TPA to Improve Vehicle Sensitivity to Rumble Noise from Tires/Wheels Lateral Forces 2010-36-0553

The engineering improvement of tactile and psycho-acoustic responses in vehicles is important to please customer's quality expectations. However the same market demand for high quality also requires increasingly lighter vehicles, with less environmental impact and low cost which, at first, may appear as apposite voices to noise, vibration (NVH) refinement. So, seeking for high satisfaction of the passengers is necessary to manage the entire vehicle design, developing each one of chassis components, hard points attachments and body's behavior to optimize NVH sources balance without sacrificing durability and vehicle dynamics performance. Thus, as a case study, this paper presents an experimental analysis of the structural-borne contribution of noise, vibration and harshness during tire rolling, also referred to as Road NVH, using the energy transfer path analysis method (TPA). During the investigation, the influences of the accelerations and forces through the A-arm front suspension bushings are highlighted due their contribution to the estimated overall interior noise, which is correlated to measured overall interior noise. The structural contribution begins as a direct result of tires vibrations from surfaces interactions. These mechanical vibrations, mainly below 450 Hz, are transmitted to all chassis and body subsystems, resulting into noise and vibration perceived by the passengers in the interior cabin. This study is motivated by improvements in Powertrain NVH and Wind Noise, which unbalance Road NVH on various conditions.