Tyre/Road Noise: Dominant Mechanism, Prediction And Potential For Improvement

Tyre road noise today has become an important subject for the design of quieter vehicles and for the protection of environment. Tyre design (Tread pattern geometry) and Road surface (microstructure), both are responsible for noise generation and thus there is a scope of reducing the noise through joint work. The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the dominant mechanism (excitation/vibration) which generates tyre noise, its prediction techniques and pattern geometry of the tread responsible for it. The work uses virtual tool in a computer environment which predicts the pattern noise (exterior) and the data is correlated with the experimental noise (measured in an anechoic chamber on a dyno) which helps assess the behaviour of a pattern before an actual prototype is built. This helps compress design cycle time of a new tyre. Tyres with different pattern geometry have been considered to show the effect of geometry on noise generation. The paper has briefly covered the latest tools like STSF and modal analysis that are currently in use to optimise tyre NVH properties.