Nowadays, the interior vehicle noise due to the exterior
aerodynamic field is an emerging topic in the acoustic design of a
car. In particular, the turbulent aerodynamic pressure generated by
the air flow encountering the windshield and the side windows
represents an important interior noise source.
As a consequence PSA Peugeot Citroën is interested in the
numerical prediction of this aerodynamic noise generated by the car
windows with the final objective of improving the products design
and reducing this noise. In the past, several joint studies have
been led by PSA and Free Field Technologies on this topic. In those
studies an efficient methodology to predict the noise transmission
through the side window has been set up. It relies on a two steps
approach: the first step involves the computation of the exterior
turbulent field using an unsteady CFD solver (in this case EXA
PowerFlow). The second step consists in the computation of the
vibro-acoustic transmission through the side window using the
finite element vibroacoustic solver Actran.
The present paper extends this methodology for the handling of
multiple windows, i.e., the two front side windows and the
windshield. The complete car cavity is modeled as well. First, a
complete description of the method and the finite element model is
provided, from the boundary conditions to the different components
involved, like the windows, the seals and the car cavity. The total
wind noise level results and the relative contributions of the
different windows are then presented and compared to measurements
for a real car model. The influence of the flow yaw angle (0°
versus 10° orientation) is also assessed.