This paper on "FE Simulation of Structure-Borne Road Noise in a Passenger Car" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on The Evolution of Product Simulation From Established Methods to Virtual Testing & Prototyping - 24-28 April 2001, The Grand Hotel, Lake Como, Italy.

Summary

The road-tyre interaction is one of the main sources of noise in a passenger car, so that a reduction of this contribution is important to improve the vehicle acoustic comfort.
In order to reduce the structure-borne road noise of a passenger car in an early project development phase, a simulation methodology has been defined and validated. A software package has also been developed for the post-processing and the analysis of the results. This "virtual prototype" approach is based on FE modelling and simulation with MSC/NASTRANAKUSMOD.
A complete trimmed body vehicle FE model has been coupled with the internal cavity FE model in order to calculate the structure-borne acoustic response functions of the body. The forces acting on the body are evaluated using a complete vehicle FE model including the front and rear suspension, exciting the tyre patch .
The internally developed software allows to analyse the transfer path of the noise in order to identify the critical paths and to individuate modifications that can improve the acoustic performance of the car.