STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF TIRE NOISE

A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

SENTHIL NAYAGAM D

(Reg.NO:112912114094)

VENUGOPALAN M

(Reg.NO:112912114106)

VIGNESHWARAN K

(Reg.NO:112912114111)

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
in

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

VEL TECH, AVADI, CHENNAI

ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI 600 025

APRIL 2016

ANNA UNIVERSITY : CHENNAI 600 025

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certificate that this project report STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF TIRE NOISE is
the bonafide work of VIGNESHWARAN K (112912114111), VENUGOPALAN
M (112912114106), SENTHlL NAYAGAM D (112912114094) who carried out the
project work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE
Mr.R.PALANISAMY, M.E,
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

SIGNATURE
Mr. J.ARULMANI, M.E,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,

Department Of Mechanical Eng.

Department Of Mechanical Eng.,

VEL TECH Engineering College

VEL TECH Engineering College

Avadi-62

Submitted for the Viva-Voce held on

INTERNAL EXAMINER

Avadi-62

/04/2016 at Veltech

EXTERNAL EXAMINER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would express our beloved chairman SHRI COL.Dr.R.RANGARAJAN

VEL TECH ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AVADI, 600062 for arranging this
project.

We

would

also

express

Dr.B.NAGALINGESWARA

our

sincere

RAJU

and

thanks
head

to
of

our
the

principal
department

Mr.R.PALANISAMY for having made for guidance and counseling throughout this
project work.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. M.JAGAN MOHAN RAO
Mr.NAGASURESH.I, Mr. S. NANDAKUMAR & Mr. P. JEBA SINGH of NVH
Attribute

Engineering

division,

Ashok

Leyland

Technical

Centre,

Velivoyalchavadi for their valuable guidance and facilities without which this project
would not have been possible

We also thank our Internal guide Mr. J.ARULMANI for his inspiration, invaluable
guidance and constant which helped us to design this project

ABSTRACT

Automotive industries perform NVH test on vehicles in the end user environment to
reduce failures and warranty costs in the end user hands. Noise and vibration produced
in the vehicle are equally important from a customer point of view. Different vehicle
manufactures follow different tire noise measurement techniques. From the
observation it is found that many of benchmark companies using Pass by noise and
other methods for measuring tire noise.

This Report describes the mechanism of generating tire noise, which contributes very
much to the vehicle exterior noise, by dividing the factors of the tire noise into
exciting force, vibration characteristics and acoustic radiation characteristics. In
addition, it shows the effectiveness of suppressing the distinctive tread vibration
mode, which is the main mode of vibration radiating noise of around 1 kHz with a
high sound pressure level in radial tires for commercial vehicles.

The tire testing was done for various speed levels and pressure levels and
the noise was captured with the help of a sound level meter (SLM) in the high speed
testing tracks and the different conditions of testing was conducted and the readings
were converted into graph by processing the values taken from the microphone and
SLM, and converting them into graphs by using LMS software. The result of the tests
are presented in the following report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTERS

TITLE

PAGE NO.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

iii

ABSTRACT

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

1.

viii

INTRODUCTION
1.1. DESCTRIPTION

1.2. SOUND

1.3. GENERATION OF SOUND

1.4. FREQUENCY

1.5. THE SPEED OF SOUND IN DIFFERENT

MEDIUM
1.6. SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL

1.7. OCTAVE

1.8. OCTAVE ANALYSIS

1.9. OCTAVE BAND

1.10. 1/3

RD

OCTAVE ANALYSIS

1.11. SOURCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE

1.12. MEASUREMENT CHAIN GENERAL

ANALYSIS
1.13. BASICS OF VIBRATION

1.14. UNITS OF VIBRATION

1.15. ELEMENTS OF VIBRATION

1.16. VIBRATION DISCRIPTORS

1.16.1. AMPLITUDE

1.16.2. PERIOD AND FREQUENCY

1.17. PHASE AND ITS IMPORTANCE

2.

10

INTRODUCTION OF TIRES
2.1. TERMINOLOGY OF TIRES

12

2.2. TYPES OF TIRES

13

2.3. INSTRUMENTS USED FOR TESTING

16

2.3.1. MICROPHONE

16

3.

LITREATURE SURVEY

17

4.

4.1 METHODOLOGY

20

4.2. LOCATION OF MICROPHONE

20

4.3. COAST DOWN NEAR SOURCE METHOD

22

4.4. COAST DOWN NEAR SOURCE METHOD

25

FOR SMALLER TIRE

4.5. TEST RESULT

26

4.6. FOR DIFFERENT TIRE PRESSURE LEVELS

28

AT CONSTANT SPEED
4.7. FOR DIFFERENT SPEEDS AT CONSTATNT

29

PRESSURE LEVELS
4.8. NOISE LEVEL FOR DIFFERENT TIRE

29

SIZES
5.

PHOTOGRAPHS

30

6.

REFERENCES

35

LIST OF FIGURES
S.NO

TITLE

PAGE NO

FIG 1.1

Generation of sound waves

FIG 1.2

1/3 Octave

FIG 1.3

Noise level

FIG 1.4

Measurement chain

FIG 1.5

Elements of vibration

FIG 1.6

Amplitude

11

FIG 2.1

Tire terminology

13

FIG 2.2

Types of tires

14

FIG 2.3

Tire resonance

13

FIG 2.4

Microphone

18

FIG 4.1

Analysis for bigger tire

19

FIG 4.2

Location of microphone

25

FIG 4.3

Frequency vs dB for 60kmph

26

FIG 4.4

Frequency vs dB for 50kmph

26

FIG 4.5

Frequency vs dB for 40kmph

27

FIG 4.6

Frequency vs dB for 60 psi

27

FIG 4.7

Frequency vs dB for 70 psi

28

FIG 4.8

Frequency vs dB for 80 psi

28

rd

FIG 4.9

Frequency vs dB for 90 psi

29

FIG 4.10

Frequency vs dB for different tire size

29

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Vehicle manufacturers work with noise and vibration control to fulfill

legislation demands and to meet customer requirements. The exterior
noise control work is mainly motivated by legislation demands while
interior noise and vibration control work is motivated by driver and
passenger noise and vibration comfort requirements. The motivation for
reducing traffic noise is that it is the most important environmental noise
source in India and in the rest of the world.

1.1 DESCRPTION
Noise: It is unwanted sound. The sound is propagating type of energy
traveling through a medium with particular velocity.
Vibration: The vibration is the variation of the displacement of a body
with respect to a specified reference position with time, when
displacement is alternatively greater or smaller than reference.
Harshness : Vibration perceived tactually and audibly in the frequency
range of 15 Hz to 300 Hz.

1.2 Sound:

Physically, a mechanical disturbance propagated as a wave motion in air

and other elastic or mechanical media such as water or steel.
Physiologically, an auditory sensation evoked by this physical
phenomenon. Not all sound waves evoke an auditory
sensation,e.g., ultrasound.

1.3 Generation of sound waves:

Sound waves involve a succession of compressions and rarefactions of an elastic
medium such as air characterized by the amplitude of pressure changes, their
frequency, and the velocity of propagation.

Fig 1.1

1.4 Frequency:
The number of compressions and rarefactions per unit time in seconds.
f = 1/T
Unit of frequency is hertz (Hz).
Human hearing is sensitive 20-20,000 Hz (the audio frequency range).

1.5 THE SPEED OF SOUND IN DIFFERENT MEDIUM:

In air - 344 m/s (1240 km/h).

In wood - 3,962 m/s (11 times of air)

In steel - 5,029 m/s (15 times of air)

1.6 SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL):

Sound

Pressure

Level

is

used

as

the

fundamental

measure

of

sound(amplitude).Threshold SPL of all "average" person at 1,000 Hz is 20 N/m2

Largest sound pressure perceived without discomfort : SPL in logarithmic scale
varies between 0 to 130

1.7 Octave
Human Ear cannot differentiate small variations in frequency
Example : We cannot perceived the difference between tone of 1.0kHz and 1.2
kHz
Octave are the minimum frequency shift necessary for human being to
perceive the difference of tones
Octave bands are standardized starting from 1.25Hz to 20kHz

1.8 Octave analysis:

When more detailed information about a complex sound is needed, the frequency
range of 20Hz to 20kHz can be split into sections or bands. This is done
electronically within a sound level meter.
These bands usually have a bandwidth of one octave or one third octave. More
advanced instruments may be able to give a narrow band analysis of the noise
data. This may be an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) or information in 1/12 octaves.
An octave band is a frequency band where the highest frequency is twice the
lowest frequency.
For example, an octave filter with a centre frequency of 1kHz has a lower
frequency of 707Hz and an upper frequency of 1.414kHz. Any frequencies below
and above these limits are rejected. A third octave has a width of 1/3 of that of an
octave band.

1.9 Octave band:

An octave band is a frequency band where the highest frequency is twice the
lowest frequency. For example, an octave filter with a centre frequency of 1kHz
has a lower frequency of 707Hz and an upper frequency of 1.414kHz. Any
frequencies below and above these limits are rejected

1.10 1/3 OCTAVE ANALYSIS:

It is one type of octave analysis which is done for comparing for multiple
components and also for analyzing for modified measurements, for constant RPM
. Here one frequency is compared other frequencies.

Fi1g
FIG1.2
1.2

This is one of the example for 1/3 octave analysis graph which has been done for
our project

1.11 SOURCES OF ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE

Industries
Road-traffic
Rail-traffic
Air-traffic
Construction and public works
5

Noise prevention and control is important as noise affects us in

Hearing
Ability to communicate
Behavior
Indoor sources (air conditioners, air coolers, fans, radio,television and
other home & office etc
Indiscriminate use of loudspeakers, generator sets and Fire crackers have
given a new dimension to the noise pollution problems in India

FIG 1.3
1.3
Fig

1.12 MEASUREMENT CHAIN GENERAL ANALYSIS

FIG
Fig 1.4
1.4

1.13 Basics of Vibration:

1.13.1 Definition
Basically, vibration is oscillating motion of a particle or body about a fixed
reference point. Such motion may be simple harmonic (sinusoidal) or complex
(non-sinusoidal). It can also occur in various modes - such as bending or
translational modes - and, since the vibration can occur in more than one mode
simultaneously, its analysis can be difficult.
7

1.14 Units of vibration

The units of vibration depend on the vibrational parameter, as follows:
a) acceleration, measured in g or [m/s2] ;
b) velocity, measured in [m/s] ;
c) displacement, measured in [m].

1.15 ELEMENTS OF VIBRATION:

1. Mass (M)
2. Spring (K)
3. Damper (c)
4. Excitation(X[T])

Fig 1.5

The three most important descriptors of Vibration are

1.Amplitude
2.Period and Frequency
3.Phase

1.16 Vibration Descriptors:

1.16.1 Amplitude

1.6
FigFig1.6

Amplitude of Vibration is the Magnitude of Vibration

Amplitude is measured and expressed in three ways:
Displacement (in Microns)
Velocity (mm/sec)
Acceleration (m/sec or g)

1.16.2 Period & Frequency

Frequency expressed in Hertz (CPS)

f in Hz = RPM / 60
Cycles per minute (CPM /RPM) CPS * 60

Radian per second (Circular frequency) = 2 f

10

1.17 PHASE & ITS IMPORTANCE

Vibration phase can be simply defined as the moment at which event
occurs.
The phase relation could be in degrees, time (second) or fraction of a
revolution or cycle

Fig
1.7
Fig1.7

11

CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION ABOUT TIRE NOISE
Exterior road traffic noise results from the combined contributions from a large
number of different vehicles. Trucks are typically noisiest followed by buses and
motorcycles while cars are the quietest. The contribution of cars to the overall
traffic noise level is however great because of their large numbers (about 80% of
the road traffic). For lower speeds, below 40-50 km/h, engine noise including
exhaust and intake noise dominates for cars. For higher speeds, above 70 km/h,
tyre-road noise dominates the car exterior noise generation. For heavier vehicles
the engine noise is dominant under most conditions. The next to that engine noise
tire noise is dominating so research are going on to reduce the road/tire noise.

2.1 TERMINOLOGY OF TIRES:

Air Pressure: The amount of air inside the tire pressing outward on each square
inch of tire, expressed in pounds per square inch (psi) or kilopascals (kPa), the
metric designation for air pressure.
Alignment: The state in which all wheels on a vehicle are pointed in the optimum
direction relative to one another.
All-Season Tires: Tires that are designed for use on dry and wet pavement and
also provide traction on snow and ice.
Cold Inflation: The amount of air pressure in a tire, measured in pressure
kilopascals (kPa) or pounds per square inch (psi), before a tire has built up heat
from driving.
12

Cord: The strands of fabric forming the plies or layers of the tire. Cords may be
made from steel, fiber glass, rayon, nylon, polyester or other fabrics.
Contact Patch: The portion of the tread that makes contact with the road.
Groove: The space between two adjacent tread ribs; also called tread grooves.
Highway Tires: Also called Summer tires; designed for wet- and dry-weather
driving, but not for use on snow and ice.
Load Index: An assigned number ranging from 0 to 279 that corresponds to the
load carrying capacity of a tire.
Ply: A rubber-coated layer of fabric containing cords that run parallel to each
other, extends from bead to bead and goes between the inner liner and belts or
tread.
Pounds per square inch (psi): The imperial unit for air pressure.

Radial Ply Tire: A type of tire with plies arranged so cords in the body run at 90
degree angles to the centre line of the tread.
Rolling Resistance: The force required to keep a tire moving at a uniform speed.
The lower the rolling resistance, the less energy needed to keep a tire moving.
Tread: That portion of a tire that comes into contact with the road. It is
distinguished by the design of its ribs and grooves.

Fig 2.1
13

2.2 Types of tires:

Summer tires
Winter tires
All season tire
Wet climate tire
Performance tire
All terrain tires
Run flat tires
Eco
Tubeless
Tube
Radial

Fig 2.2
2.2

14

TIRE NOISE SOURCE IDENTIFICATION METHODS:

TIRE NOISE PREDICTION INITIAL PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
Road testing
Jury evaluation testing
Regression modal development
Characterisation of sources and paths
Component level test development
Synthesis process development
TIRE NOISE PREDICTION PROCESS UPDATES
Evaluation of Additional Tire Designs
Structure-borne Contributions

Fig
2.32.3
FIG

Tire noise depends upon various factors:

Tread design
Cupped design
Improper inflation
Failure to rotate
15

2.3 Instruments used for Testing:

The various instruments used to measure are:

Linear accelerometers
Sound level meter
Microphone
LMS test lab software

3.3.2 Microphone:
These microphones are designed for high-level and very high-frequency
measurements and measurements in confined spaces. Being externally polarized, it
must be used with a classical preamplifier.
Uses of these microphones
Pressure-field microphones should be used for making measurements in small, closed
couplers or close to hard, reflective surfaces. Such microphones are optimized to have
a flat frequency response in a pressure field. Because of its small size, Type 4138 can
also be used for random-incidence measurements at audio frequencies, where its
frequency response is less dependent on angle of incidence.

Fig
Fig 2.4
2.4
16

Chapter 3
LITERATURE REVIEW

The area tire noise and vibration is very extensive. While reviewing the
various journals and publications on tire noise testing, three of the journals and
publications were of particular intrest. The first was the A study on the mechanism of
tire/road noise by Keijiro Iwao, Ichiro Yamazaki. This journal describes the
mechanism of generating tire/road noise, which contributes very much to the vehicle
exterior noise, by dividing the factors of the tire/road noise into exciting force,
vibration characteristics and acoustic radiation characteristics. In addition, it shows the
effectiveness of suppressing the distinctive tread vibration mode, which is the main
mode of vibration radiating noise of around 1 kHz with a high sound pressure level in
radial tires for Commercial vehicles.

17

In commercially available tires for passenger cars, tread patterns formed on tread
surfaces for drainage have an unequal pitch arrangement in the circumferential
directionof the tires, as shown in Fig. 2. This aims at dispersing the pattern noise
synchronized to the interval between neighboring patterns, from the pure tone sound,
which is offensive to the ear, into sound of a wide frequency range, which is less
offensive to the ear, by changing the interval between the neighboring patterns as
shown in Fig. 3. For example, under the condition of a car speed of 50 km/h,
the sound synchronized to the first-order component of the pattern having a central
frequency of 500 Hz is dispersed into the frequency range from 400 Hz to 600 Hz, and
the sound synchronized to the second-order component of the pattern is dispersed into
the frequency range from 800 Hz to 1.2 kHz. Consequently, if the frequency
component synchronized to the tread patterns is to be identified, it is
necessary to take a wide frequency range into consideration instead of a single
frequency. In order to investigate the effect of the tread pattern on the tire/road noise,
the noise spectrum of a smoothed tire, whose tread blocks were removed to smooth
the surface, was compared with an original tire under the coasting condition without
driving torque, as shown in Fig. 4. It is found that the sound pressure level depends
upon the roughness of the road surface. In the case of the experiment conducted on a
chassis dynamometer (called C/D hereafter) having a smooth surface, the sound
pressure level of the smoothed tire was lowered remarkably in the frequency range
from 400 Hz to 600 Hz, which seems to correspond to the first-order component of the
tread pattern, and in the frequency range from 800 Hz to 1.25 kHz, which seems to
correspond to the second-order component of the tread pattern. However, in the case
of the experiment conducted on the actual pavement, the sound pressure level rose as
18

a whole in the frequency range having a center frequency of about 1 kHz, compared
with the case on C/D. Furthermore, it is remarkable that the sound pressure level of
the smoothed tire is higher than that of the original tire in the frequency range above
1kHz, contrary to the case on C/D. It is found from these results that the tire/road
noise depends not only upon the exciting force due to the tread pattern and the
roughness of the road surface, but also largely upon the structure of the tire, such as
thickness of the tread blocks.

19

CHAPTER 4
4.1 METHODOLOGY:
In this work a Truck of tire size 10R20 and a Bus of tire size of 7.5R16 is taken for study of the
Tire
noise.

Coast down near source noise

Test on various pressure level for tires
Test on various speed levels
Test on different sized tires

4.2 Location of microphones:

Microphone placed near rear of the tire (about 8-10cm from the tire)

In the road surface about 1m from the vehicle during pass by

4.3 COAST DOWN NEAR SOURCE METHOD

The distance from the microphone positions from the tire is about 0.5m which is
called as near source. That is the microphone is mounted near the mud guard of
the vehicle. Another microphone is kept in the road nearer to tire while it is
passing. And sound is measured.

20

Fig
4.1
Fig 4.1

Natural frequency of tire is found at 1100Hz for thread surface by doing frequency
response function test (i.e) is done by exciting the tire with the help of hammer.

The next graph tells us about the color map of tire noise by doing coast by method
it is found that the tire noise is recognized only at 0-200Hz (i.e) low frequency.
rd

The last graphs tell us about the 1/3 octave analysis of tire tread near source
noise and it is found out that at 2 frequencies that is at 160hz and 1000hz

21

COAST DOWN NEAR SOURCE FOR LARGER TIRE

This method is used to determine the sound that is coming out from the tires
when they are driven at higher speeds.
In this method microphones are placed at various places in the trucks and
are connected to a measuring device.
When the truck is driven at a speed of 70 to 80kmph the various sound
coming from the tire are captured in the microphone which is measured
using the measuring software's.
Based on the values obtained a graph is generated to find the peak at which the
noise is high and the processing is concentrated on the particular region

22

Location of microphone

23

FREQUENCY RESPONSE FUNCTION:

Frequency response is the quantitative measure of the output spectrum of a

system or device in response to a stimulus, and is used to characterize the
dynamics of the system. It is a measure of magnitude and phase of the output as
a function of frequency, in comparison to the input.

24

4.4. Coast down near source method for smaller tire:

Next for different tire pressure levels for different speeds the noise level was found out
using

Fig
of microphone
Fig4.2
4.2 location
Location
of microphone

25

4.5 Test results:

At 60kmph

Fig 4.3 Frequency vs dB for 60kmph

At 50kmph

Fig 4.4 Frequency vs dB for 50kmph

26

At 40 kmph

Fig 4.5

Frequency vs dB for 40kmph

AT 60psi pressure

Fig 4.6

Frequency vs dB for 60psi pressure

27

At 70psi pressure

Fig 4.7

Frequency vs dB for 70psi pressure

At 80psi pressure

Fig 4.8

Frequency vs dB for 80psi pressure

28

At 90psi pressure

Fig 4.9

4.6 FOR DIFFERENT

CONSTANT SPEED:

Frequency vs dB for 90psi pressure

TIRE

PRESSURE

LEVELS

AT

The graph (fig 4.3- 4.5) implies that at high tire pressure levels the tire noise
is relatively low as compared to low pressure level. This is because increase
in tire pressure level decreases the contact surface between the road and the
tire and side wall stiffness of the tire gets increased.
If the tire pressure level is low the noise is high. This is due to the increase
in contact surface between road and tire. This increases the air pumping
pressure and noise generated is more.
At lower frequency for higher pressure level the noise produced is relatively
low.

29

4.7 FOR DIFFERENT SPEEDS AT CONSTANT PRESSURE

LEVEL:
The graph (Fig 4.6-4.9)implies that, at high speed levels the tire noise is
relatively more compared to low speed. This is because increase in rotation
of tire, causes the air cavity resonance between tread patterns is more and
faster and thus the noise is high.
For low speed level the rotation of tire is less and the air cavity resonance
between the tread patterns low compared to high speed levels.
4.8 NOISE LEVEL FOR DIFFERENT TIRE SIZES:
For Different Tire Sizes the Noise Level Is Calculated and The Graph Is Plotted
Tire Noise with Different Tire size

Fig 4.10

30

Note: Redline indicates 10R20 (i.e larger tire)

Black line indicates 7.5 R 16 (i.e smaller tire)

The result is analyzed that, large sized tire produce more noise than the
small sized tire.
This is because for larger tire size the tread size is larger and the volume
of air entering and leaving between the treads is more and thus it leads to
increase in tire noise

For smaller sized tire the tread size is smaller and the volume of air
entering and leaving between the treads is less and thus the tire noise is less

31

PHOTOGRAPHS:
.

32

33

34

REFERENCES
1. Alan E.Ducan, Frank C.Su, Walter L. Wolf Understanding NVH basics
2. Per Rasmussen and Svend Gade, Brel&Kjr, Denmark Tire Noise
Measurement on A moving vehicle.
3. Jens Slama Evaluation of a new Method for tire/road noise.
4. Douglas I. Hanson Robert S. James Christopher Ne Smith Tire/pavement
noise study.
5. Keijiro Iwao, Ichiro Yamazaki A Study on the mechanism of tire / road
noise
6. G R Watts, P M Nelson, P G Abbott, R E Stait and C Treleven. Tire/road
noise
Assessment of the existing and proposed tire noise limits.

35