Underbody Contribution Simulation for Vehicle Wind-Noise

Wind noise is one of the largest sources to interior noise of modern vehicles. This noise is encountered when driving on roads and freeways from medium speed and generates considerable fatigue for passengers on long journeys. Aero-acoustic noise is the result of turbulent and acoustic pressure fluctuations created within the flow. They are transmitted to the passenger compartment via the vibro-acoustic excitation of vehicle surfaces and underbody cavities. Generally, this is the dominant flow-induced source at low frequencies. The transmission mechanism through the vehicle floor and underbody is a complex phenomenon as the paths to the cavity can be both airborne and structure-borne. This study is focused on the simulation of the floor contribution to wind noise of two types of vehicles (SUV and Sports car), whose underbody structure are largely different. Aero-Vibro-acoustic simulations are performed to identify the transmission mechanism of the underbody wind noise and contribution. The external fluctuating pressure fields are simulated using computational fluid dynamics based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The vehicle exterior and interior vibro-acoustic coupling and transmission are simulated using subsystems modeled by the finite-element (FEM), boundary element methods (BEM) and statistical energy analysis (SEA). The analysis results are discussed, and a contribution analysis is proposed to identify potential improvements.