Artificial Reduction of Wind Tunnel Background Noise in Vehicle Wind Noise Testing

Vehicle wind noise testing is usually done at elaborate tunnel facilities with minimal tunnel background noise, Techniques to reduce the tunnel noise, such as acoustic panels or improved fan systems, translate into higher costs for wind noise testing. We introduce an innovative procedure using an adaptive filtering algorithm to separate the tunnel noise from the wind noise inside the cabin of the vehicle. This new technique is capable of artificially reducing the tunnel background noise at low frequencies. Such a procedure has the potential to dramatically improve the wind noise testing capability of any wind tunnel, without the need for costly acoustic treatments.