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Under city driving conditions, the powertrain represents one of the major vehicle exterior noise sources. Especially at idle and during full load acceleration, the oil pan contributes significantly to the overall powertrain sound emission. The engine oilpan can be a significant contributor to the powertrain radiated sound levels. Passive optimization measures, such as structural optimization and acoustic shielding, can be limited by e.g. light-weight design, package and thermal constraints. Therefore, the potential of the Active Structure Acoustic Control (ASAC) method for noise reduction was investigated within the EU-sponsored project InMAR. The method has proven to have significant noise reduction potential with respect to oil pan vibration induced noise. The paper reports on activities within the InMAR project with regard to a passenger car oil pan application of an ASAC system based on piezo-ceramic foil technology.

The acoustics insulation on the car body is ones of the more important target in the NVH (Noise Vibration and Harshness) vehicle development process. The method of SEA is a validated statistical approach to solve airborne noise transmission problems. In the vehicle analysis above 300 Hz where material trim and leakage paths makes a important contribution in the vehicle interior acoustics shows the methodology its advantages over deterministic methods.

Powertrain noise is a significant factor in determination of the overall vehicle refinement expected by today's discriminating automotive customer. Development of a powertrain to meet these expectations requires a thorough understanding of the contributing noise sources. Specifically, combustion noise greatly impacts the perception of sound levels and quality. The relevance of combustion noise development has increased with the advent of newer efficiency-driven technologies such as direct injection or homogeneous charge compression ignition. This paper discusses the application of a CSL (Combustion Sound Level) analysis-a method for the identification and optimization of combustion noise. Using CSL, it is possible to separate mechanical and combustion noise sources.

The technology used in hybrid vehicle concepts is significantly different from conventional vehicle technology with consequences also for the noise and vibration behavior. In conventional vehicles, certain noise phenomena are masked by the engine noise. In situations where the combustion engine is turned off in hybrid vehicle concepts, these noise components can become dominant and annoying. In hybrid concepts, the driving condition is often decoupled from the operation state of the combustion engine, which leads to unusual and unexpected acoustical behavior. New acoustic phenomena such as magnetic noise due to recuperation occur, caused by new components and driving conditions. The analysis of this recuperation noise by means of interior noise simulation shows, that it is not only induced by the powertrain radiation but also by the noise path via the powertrain mounts. The additional degrees of freedom of the hybrid drive train can also be used to improve the vibrational behavior.

The sound quality and performance of an automotive engine are both significantly influenced by the “air-to-air” system, i.e., the intake system, the exhaust system, and the engine gas dynamics. Only a full systems approach can result in an optimized air-to-air system, which fulfills engine performance requirements, overall sound pressure level targets for airborne vehicle noise, as well as sound quality demands. This paper describes an approach, which considers the intake system, engine, and exhaust system within one CAE model that can be utilized for engine performance calculations as well as acoustic simulations. Examples comparing simulated and measured sound are discussed. Finally, the simulated sound (e.g., at the tailpipe of the exhaust system) is combined with an interior noise simulation technique to evaluate its influence inside the vehicle's interior.

The overall perception of a vehicle's quality is significantly influenced by its interior noise characteristics. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance between “pleasant” and “dynamic” sound that fits the customer requirements with respect to vehicle brand and class [1]. Typically, a significant share of the interior vehicle noise is transferred through structure-borne paths. Hence, the powertrain mounting system plays an important role in designing the interior noise. This paper describes an application of the method of vehicle interior noise simulation (VINS) to achieve a characteristic interior sound. This approach is based on separate measurements (or calculations) of excitations and transfer functions and subsequent calculation of the interior noise in the time domain.

The European as well as U.S. market share of modern Diesel engines has increased significantly in recent years, due to their excellent torque and performance behavior combined with low fuel consumption. The overall improved noise and vibration behavior of modern Diesel engines has also contributed to this trend. Despite overall improvements in Diesel engine noise and vibration, certain aspects of Diesel engines continue to present significant challenges. One such issue is the presence of Diesel knocking that is prevalent during cold start and warm-up conditions. This paper discusses a technique used to optimize the cold start noise behavior of modern Diesel engines. The methods used in this study are based on optimizing the engine calibration to improve the vehicle interior and exterior (engine) noise, even at low ambient temperatures.

The prevention of any brake noise or brake-induced body vibrations is a key development target firmly integrated in the car development process. Emphasis is placed here on disc brake judder that is attributable to thickness variations in the disc. These deviations from the ideal plane surface can be caused either by wear and corrosion or by thermal stresses (changes within the microstructure of the disc material). They are termed “cold judder” and “thermal judder” respectively. During braking, possible vibration excitation passes through a wide frequency band due to the coupling between the judder frequency and the wheel rotational speed, and thus, resonant frequencies of many vehicle components can be excited. This includes wheel suspension components and the steering column. In this paper, it is reported on extensive investigations into the topic of “cold judder”.

Passenger car customer expects both: low interior noise level and a sound quality, adapted to vehicle driving condition. The latter should be based upon a comfortable sound character without outstanding noise effects. One of the very unpleasant noise characteristics is roughness, also called rap noise or rumbling noise. Beside intake noise and powertrain structure bending, the dynamic crank train behaviour is one of the potential origins of a rough noise pattern. Material properties of the crankshaft and the layout of crankshaft damper can influence roughness as well as the crank train clearances. Subjects of this study, which was performed on a 4-cylinder spark-ignition (SI) engine, were the identification and objectivation of a specific noise concern which occurred during vehicle acceleration. Aim was to evaluate the noise concern sensitivity to the crank train clearances and to define optimum clearance ranges for noise quality improvement.

A customer's perception of vehicle quality very closely parallels the noise vibration and harshness (NVH) characteristics of the vehicle. Consequently, automotive manufacturers are investing significant resources into optimizing the NVH performance of their vehicles. Automatic transmission shift quality is one of a number of attributes where NVH optimization is critical towards providing customers with a pleasant driving experience. This paper addresses various aspects of understanding, quantifying and optimizing a vehicle's shift quality characteristics. Following an introductory treatment of automatic transmission planetary gear systems, the interaction between the engine/transmission system during shifts is summarized. Various shift quality metrics used to quantify a vehicle's response and its sensitivity to transient inputs are provided. Approaches to manage the engine torque output during the shifts are discussed.

The turbulent flow around vehicles causes high amplitude pressure fluctuations at the underbody, consisting of both hydromechanic and acoustic contributions. This induces vibrations in the underbody structures, which in turn may lead to sound transmission into the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. To study these phenomena we present a run time fully coupled acoustic-fluid-structure interaction framework expanding a validated hybrid CFD-CAA solver. The excited and vibrating underbody is resembled by an aluminium plate in the underbody of the SAE body which allows for sound transmission into the interior. Different excitation situations are generated by placing obstacles at the underbody upstream of the aluminium plate. For this setup we carry out a fully coupled simulation of flow, acoustics and vibration of the plate.

A key metric of a car body structure is the body stiffness, which shows significant correlation with different vehicle performance attributes as NVH, comfort and vehicle handling. Typical approaches to identify static stiffness characteristics are the use of a static stiffness test bench or the ‘static-from-dynamic’ approach in which free-free acquired transfer functions are used to build a modal model from which the static stiffness characteristics are extracted. Both of these approaches have limitations, the static stiffness bench with respect to clamping conditions and reproducing those in CAE, the static-from-dynamic with respect to the modal analysis (EMA) that needs to be performed. EMA is a subjective process, which can limit result robustness. In addition, performing EMA on a trimmed body is difficult due to the high modal density and the high level of damping.