Vehicle NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) is one of the most critical customer touch-points which may lead to buying decisions. The importance of Noise inside the cabin is increasing day by day because of the new era of E-mobility and autonomous driving. Noise source could be the engine, powertrain, tyre, suspension components, brake system, etc. depending on driving conditions. Among these, tire noise is being identified as the biggest contributor at constant mid-speed driving where engine and powertrain operate at minimum noise and wind noise is also at a moderate level. This driving condition becomes very significant for electric vehicles where engine noise is replaced by motor noise which is a tonal noise at very high frequency. This makes the improvement of tire noise levels quintessential for good in-cabin acoustic feel. This demands a proactive approach to develop low noise tire platforms for future mobility by leveraging research tools and best practices in the industry. With a greater emphasis on ride and comfort in passenger car vehicles, tyre manufacturers will be challenged to meet stringent harshness requirements. This will require multiple iterations of product development and vehicle testing to tune the tires. While time to the market is a crucial requirement dedicated knowledge matrices will help faster decision making.
This paper showcase the aspects of tire pattern, structure and tread compound on airborne and structure-borne noise using a full factorial DOE (Design of Experiment) approach at vehicle level and component level noise and harshness. The study also involves advanced measurement and analysis tools to understand the effect of major pattern and construction elements on noise generated, enhanced and transferred by different paths. DoE approach is critical because of the Non-linearity of trends. This study builds a knowledge base for developing future tire platforms that demand better NVH levels than today.