Development Procedure for Interior Noise Performance by Virtual Vehicle Refinement, Combining Experimental and Numerical Component Models

This paper summarizes the development of a predictive vibro-acoustic full vehicle model of a mid-size sedan and focuses on the engineering analysis procedures used to evaluate the design performance related to engine induced noise and vibration. The vehicle model is build up from a mixture of test-based and finite element component models. FRF Based Substructuring is used for their assembly. The virtual car model is loaded by engine forces resulting from indirect force identification. This force-set includes combustion, inertia, piston slap and crank bearing forces, for engine harmonics from 0.5 to 10^th order. Such forced response analysis yields vibration levels at every component, at every interface between components, and interior noise predictions. The target is to provide the vehicle NVH manager with the insight required to identify major causes for peak noise levels and to set targets and develop an action plan for every component design team. Having such information at any design stage effectively reduces both the design cycle duration and the number of physical prototypes.