Acoustic performance of tires

[dmarsh22]

Is anyone aware of any tests or standards relating to the airborne noise generated at the tyre/road interface. I'm particularly interested in understanding the tyre as a noise source and it's impact upon interior acoustics in the 500Hz to 2kHz region.
Cheers,
Dave

 

[IRstuff]

Have you done a web search? There seemed to be all sorts of interesting stuff:

http://www.igga.net/downloads/noise/Texas_Study.pdf

http://www.inrets.fr/ur/lte/publications/publications-pdf/web-hamet/in00_674.pdf

http://www.tiresociety.org/page42.html

TTFN

 

[GregLocock]

There are a lot of people mounting microphones around the contact patch trying to understand this. I'm glad I'm not one of them! You might get somewhere with a search based on 'sizzle'.

Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[Rob45]

Much depends on tire construction:
if you've got the sort of tire used on heavy commercial vehicles, there's a good chance the tread block spacing is constant around the tire, giving a very pronounced tone at the tread block-passing frequency.
For example, in large Class 8 trucks in the U.S. (26,000 to 80,000 lbs.) this tone often works out to around 7.5 Hz x roadspeed in mph.

In other tire designs, air pumping is a major noise source.

 

[GregLocock]

I read a great paper on how someone designed the tread patterns. As I remember they use a sequence of five tread blocks around the circumference, and then design them to try and eliminate harmonics. It must have been an SAE, ISVR, IMechE or S+V paper.


Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[dmarsh22]

Thanks Guys,
I suspect that I might have to join the group measuring close proximity noise by the contact patch! I deal with automotive tyres with either 3 or 5 pitch lengths. The pitch sequence is so well designed these days that you're hard pressed to even locate the fundamental block striking frequency or associated harmonics.
The issue I have is to try to set some standards for the tyre as an airborne source to enable our suppliers to reach a better compromise between, for example, wet grip and acoustic performance for the next generation of tyres. This is difficult as tyre loading, speed and surface all affect results.
Also - measuring in the horn where the acoustic pressure gradient is high means that a few mm either way could mean that the results are prone to experimental error.
Maybe I should contact the technical depts of the various tyre establishments and see if they've visited this area and what they are currently capable of.
Cheers,
Dave