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Determination of the sound transmission loss (STL) of a vehicle component that has a large aperture, such as an air exhauster or an air extraction opening, always presents a challenge to an acoustics engineer. The complexity of the aperture's physical conditions cannot be easily solved with conventional, analytical or numerical methods. A systematic study of investigating the transmission loss characteristics of the large aperture is presented in this paper. Both conventional potential noise reduction predictions of large apertures and SEA simulations were performed. Transmission losses with different acoustic treatments were measured and predicted when using AutoSEA2. Finally, correlation between measured results and predications were developed. The ultimate goal of this study is to reduce the costly transmission loss measurements with correlated analytical estimations

A systematic benchmarking study was performed to investigate the acoustic performance of production floor coverings (i.e. carpets) of vehicles. A larger number of passenger cars including compact, mid-size, full size, and a truck were selected. The floor coverings were removed from these vehicles and evaluated both on absorption and sound transmission loss (STL) performances. The methodology used and the experimental results are presented in this paper. It was discovered that the design of the carpet is more important than the materials used. In addition, a carpet with highest absorption does not necessarily have the best STL and vice versa. However, an optimum design could achieve high performance in both categories.

Acoustical materials are widely used in automotive vehicles and other industrial applications. Two important parameters namely Sound Transmission Loss (STL) and absorption coefficient are commonly used to evaluate the acoustical performance of these materials. Other parameters, such as insertion loss, noise reduction, and loss factors are also used to judge their performance depending on the application of these materials. A systematic comparative study of STL and absorption coefficient was conducted on various porous acoustical materials. Several dozen materials including needled cotton fiber (shoddy) and foam materials with or without barrier/scrim were investigated. The results of STL and absorption coefficient are presented and compared. As expected, it was found that most of materials are either good in STL or good in absorption. However, some combinations can achieve a balance of performance in both categories.

This paper demonstrates the potential of coupling simulation with the Taguchi method in the design process. A two- dimensional transient heat transfer model is used to simulate the axial and radial temperature field of a disk brake rotor. The simulation results are then used as input into the Taguchi method to identify the most dominant design parameters in order to optimize the design. The optimum design is compared with the existing design to determine the effectiveness of the recommended design changes. The results show the influence of such design parameters as rotor type (solid or vented) and rotor taper as well as material characteristics (particularly conductivity). A further step investigates the influence of rotor thickness and rotor/brake pad area ratio together with an approach that makes the design robust against different types of braking action.

Research interest in vehicle NVH to improve riding comfort has increased significantly in the recent years. The air- and structure- born noise generated by the automotive shock absorber become a key factor to evaluate quality of vehicles. The ultimate goal of this study is to create a vibro-acoustic model of a shock absorber which can be used as a predictive tool by design engineers in the early stage of shock absorber design process. The efficiency of CAE tools developed in this study may also allow for more design iterations and alternatives within a relatively shorter design time, which may lead to a higher level of refinement and better-optimized design

A comprehensive and systematic investigation of the acoustical performance of carbon-nanotube-enhanced polyurethane (PU) foams was performed. The complete foam making process was carried out carefully in order to create stable foams to be integrated with many carbon nanotube materials. A total of eight design parameters were evaluated. Both normal incidence sound transmission loss (STL) and absorption coefficient were measured by use of an impedance tube. It was found that there is an optimum value for most of the design parameters. In general, nanotube-enhanced PU foam definitely demonstrated improvements in both absorption coefficients and sound transmission loss. The improvement of absorption could reach up to 14% and the improvement in STL was quite substantial, i.e. up to 97.5%. This significant improvement in STL with a better absorption coefficient could represent a potential breakthrough in acoustical PU foam manufacturing.

This paper introduces an approach that uses a statistical energy analysis (SEA) method for prediction of noise in the vehicle cabin from an electric motor sound source placed in the engine compartment. The study integrates three different physics, namely, electromagnetics, harmonics, and acoustics. A 2004 Prius permanent magnet synchronous motor with an interior permanent magnet was used for performing the integrated CAE analysis, as the motor’s design details were readily available. The Maxwell forces on the stator teeth were first calculated by an electromagnetic software package. These forces were then mapped into a finite element model of the motor stator to predict the velocity profiles on the stator frame. Velocity profiles were considered as boundary conditions to calculate sound pressure levels and the equivalent radiated sound power level in the acoustic environment.

This study presents an efficient process to optimize the transmission loss of a vehicle muffler by using both experimental and analytical methods. Two production mufflers were selected for this study. Both mufflers have complex partitions and one of them was filled with absorbent fiberglass. CAD files of the mufflers were established for developing FEA models in ANSYS and another commercial software program (CFEA). FEA models were validated by experimental measurements using a two-source method. After the models were verified, sensitivity studies of design parameters were performed to optimize the transmission loss (TL) of both mufflers. The sensitivity study includes the perforated hole variations, partition variations and absorbent material insertion. The experimental and sensitivity analysis results are included in the paper.