Vehicle NVH design

Laurent Gagliardini DRD/DAPF/ACV

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What is NVH?
Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH), or in French ACoustique et Vibrations
(ACV) is the study and modification of the noise and vibration characteristics of
vehicles in order to achieve a given performance target:
NVH is one component of the customer overall comfort feeling
The NVH targets are provided by the marketing department, in accordance with the
project management since it is highly cost related
NVH includes
Physical matters (structural dynamics, fluid mechanics and acoustics)
Physiology (hearing)
Social psychology (Sound quality, Annoyance)
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Noise, sounds and decibels
Sounds are small dynamic perturbations of the atmospheric pressure that
propagate
2 10
-5
Pa (hearing threshold) to 100 Pa (pain threshold) << 10
5
Pa (atmospheric
pressure)
Since the acoustic pressure, p, is generally a fluctuating quantity, the Root Mean
Square (RMS) value is the relevant quantity to monitor
Noise have various meaning
Mathematical sense = random signal defined by its spectral properties
Common sense = annoying sound
Like most sensations, sounds perception follows a logarithmic scale
Perceived levels are expressed in decibels:
Sound Pressure Level (SPL) in dB
0 dB is the hearing threshold/ 94 dB correspond to 1 Pa / 134 dB = pain threshold
1 dB is the smallest perceived level difference
The combination of 2 equally loud noises increase the level by 3 dB
Quiet environment have levels lower than 40 dB
Speech is easy below 60 dB
Noise in work places is limited to 80 dB (without ear protection)
SPL above 100 dB may be painfull
|
|

\
|
= =
10
2
10
10 . 4
log 10
p
Lp SPL
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
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Vehicle NVH : physical analysis
Included
Road, Engine and Appliances vibrations (5 Hz 100 Hz)
Aerodynamic, Road, Engine and Appliances noise (30 Hz 10 kHz)
Squeak and rattle
Excluded
Vehicle dynamics (< 5Hz)
Road-noise
Aerodynamic noise
Powertrain Noise
Appliance noise
(HVAC )
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Powertrain noise
Rotating machinery: periodic forces (torque and inertial forces)
Combustion noise: shocks
Mechanism noise: gears noise, belts vibrations
Function of rpm and torque
Test bench
Vehicle on Rollers, Powertrain in an anechoic dynamometer
Main associated vehicle attributes
Idling noise, booming noise, combustion noise, gear and belt whines
60
0
20
40
P
r
e
s
s
io
n

(
d
B
A
)

0 2500 1000 2000
Frquence (Hz)
moteur plancher - 2e - 3000tr - FC - srie - 110 - ref - Global

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Frequency Hz
2
0

d
B

Engine 2
nd
harmonic (H2)
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Tire-road interaction: random forces
Isolated obstacles: shocks
Corrugated road : quasi-periodic excitation
Function of speed and road surface
Roughness spectrum ~1/
2.5
Test bench
Tracks, coarse surface rollers, hydro shakers (4 posters)
Main vehicle attributes
Impact noise and vibration, Road-noise, Tire-noise
Road noise and vibrations
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Aerodynamic noise
Turbulence generated by the vehicle shape and exterior equipment (antenna, side
mirrors, wipers)
Turbulence in the HVAC system : fan, air outlet
Function of vehicle speed (V
5
) and wind direction
Test bench
Acoustic wind tunnel
Associated vehicle attributes
HVAC noise, wind noise
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
10 100 1000 10000
Frequency [Hz]
d
B
(
A
)
View of main aerodynamic noise sources
(Source modelling from CFD)
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
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Vibration comfort attributes
Road/suspension excitation
Road periodic excitation
Impact on cleats
Road harshness
Wheel unbalance / Tire non-uniformity
Shudder (Vibrations of transmission shafts joints)
Mirror vibrations (convertible)
.
Powertrain excitation
Idle vibrations (manual and automatic gearbox)
Low rpm vibrations
Engine Start and Stop
Cooling fan unbalance
.
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Vehicle noise attributes
Road/suspension excitation
Impact noise
Rolling noise
Shudder (Noise from transmission shafts joints)
Tire noise
Damper noise
Powertrain and driveline excitation
Booming (including low rpm noise)
Mid frequency level (including engine harshness)
High frequency level (including combustion noise)
Idle interior/exterior noise
Whines and rattle (belts, chains, gears)
Engine appliances (generator, compressor)
Cooling fan noise
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Other vehicle noise attributes
Aerodynamic noise
Exterior noise insulation
HVAC noise
Main and auxiliary fans noise
Compressor noise
Battery cooling
Equipment noise:
Electrical appliances noise (seats, side-windows, wipers, mirrors)
Starter noise
Power-steering noise
Chassis control devices noise (ABS, ESP)
Abnormal operating noise and vibration
International regulation
Pass-by noise (UN)
Russian interior noise regulation
External noise of silent vehicle (future)
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Vehicle NVH : transmission paths
Road-noise
Aerodynamic noise
Powertrain Noise
HVAC noise
Airborne paths Structure-borne paths
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Vehicle attributes overview:
frequency range and transmission path
Road
excitation
Powertrain
excitation
Frequency [Hz]
Aerodynamic and
environnemental
excitation
10 000
20 200
5000
50
500 2000 1000
Road noise 20-500 Hz
Booming 20-300 Hz
MF level 250-1000 Hz
HF level 400 Hz - 10 kHz
Impact N&V 20-200 Hz
Tire noise 400-4000 Hz
Exterior noise insulation 400 Hz - 10 kHz
Aerodynamic noise 50 Hz - 10 kHz
100
Systems N&V 50 Hz - 10 kHz
Equipment
excitation
Air-Borne Structure-Borne
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
NVH systems engineering
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Suspension
Powertrain
Tire/Wheel
Elastic
mounts
Vehicle decomposition regarding NVH issues
Body in White
Trimmed Body
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Parts
manufacturing
Vehicle Level
Sub-system Level
Component Level
Vehicle systems engineering
Marketing
Vehicle attributes
Production vehicle
Sales
Customer
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NVH design within systems engineering
NVH design deals with 3 main specification levels
Customer needs
Subjective evaluation
Real operating conditions
All noise sources together
Vehicle attributes
Objective evaluation
Specified operating condition (standard test)
Separated noise sources and frequency range
Sub-system physical performance
Body : response to unit loads (FRFs, TL)
Structure-borne sources : dynamic loads (eg blocked or operating forces )
Air-borne sources : source flow-rate or acoustic power
NVH design consists in
Defining noise control strategies at a given level
Considering the necessary trade-off with other vehicle issues
Providing requirements to the lower level to guarantee the achievement of the
strategy
Geometry
NVH performance
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NVH design example
Customer level: idling noise and vibration
Strategy: controlling vibration levels by structural means and noise by a fine
idling rpm adjustment
Requirements: Idling vibrations and noise level in a specified rpm range
Vehicle level : Idling vibrations
Strategy : optimized powertrain suspension and dissociation of powertrain
modes and dashboard modes
Requirements: mounts positions (ANR) and dynamic stiffness, steering wheel
first mode
Sub-system level: steering-wheel first mode
Strategy: control the stiffness allocation between the steering column,
Dashboard cross beam and its connections to the body
Requirements: steering column first mode, steering wheel fisrt mode,
dashboard beam torsion stiffness, A-pillar Ry dynamic stiffness (fixation
offset).
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
NVH systems engineering
Vehicle and subsystems vibroacoustic behaviour
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Overview of typical vibroacoustic behaviour
Low frequencies
Isolated frequencies with high response modal behaviour FEA
Strong correlation between distant points responses
High frequencies
Smooth frequency response statistical behaviour Energy methods
Response is locally homogeneous (diffuse field)
Structural/
acoustic
response
Frequency
Isolated modal
resonances
Overlapping modal
resonances
Diffuse response
(statistical modal
behaviour)
LF MF HF
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Frequency range decomposition for NVH studies
Based on physical behaviour
Ultra Low frequency: Rigid body motion, non-linearity
Low frequencies : modal behaviour
Mid frequencies : mix of modal and statistic behaviour
High frequencies : Statistic behaviour, energy methods
or based on human hearing
Bass (<250 Hz)
Medium (250-1600 Hz)
Treble (> 1600 Hz)
ULF
LF
MF
HF
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Main Vehicle Subsystems
physical behaviour versus frequency
Body
Powertrain
Suspension
ULF LF MF HF
Log f
40 Hz 20 Hz 400 Hz 200 Hz 4 kHz 2 kHz 800 Hz 80 Hz
Bass Medium Treble
First elastic mode
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Body
Powertrain
Suspension
ULF LF MF HF
Log f
40 Hz 20 Hz 400 Hz 200 Hz 4 kHz 2 kHz 800 Hz 80 Hz
Multi-body
(MBS)
Finite
Element
Analysis
(FEA)
Numerical techniques versus frequency
Energy methods
(SEA)
Bass Medium Treble
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
NVH systems engineering
Vehicle and subsystems vibroacoustic behaviour
Ultra Low frequencies physics
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Vibrations of discrete systems
Rigid bodies
Displacement in 6 Degrees Of Freedom (DOF)
Mass and inertia
Connected by soft elastic components (springs)
Vehicle coil or hydro-pneumatic springs
Rubber bushings
Tire
And dampers
Viscous dampers
Hysteretic damping : material damping, friction
Frequency response results from the vehicle dynamical balance
) ( ) (
) ( ) (
2
2
t t
dt
t d
dt
t d
F Kx
x
D
x
M = + + ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
2
F Kx Dx Mx = + + j
Fourier transform
M
K
D
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Single Degree Of Freedom (DOF)
M
K
f
R
2
1
=
R
f
0,00001
0,0001
0,001
0,01
0,1
1
10
100
1000
0,1 1 10
Frequency normalized to resonance frequency
R
e
s
p
o
n
s
e
Total transmission
Below resonance
Amplification
around resonance
Attenuation
above resonance
30 dB
20 dB
10 dB
0 dB
-10 dB
-20 dB
-30 dB
-40 dB
-50 dB
x
F
M
K D
R
f
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Main vehicle rigid body modes
Vehicle suspension
1-2 Hz
Pumping and rocking front/rear tuning
Powertrain suspension modes
6-20 Hz
Rolling excited by torque fluctuations
Vertical excited by piston/crankshaft masses inertial effects
Out of band excitation except for 2-3 cylinder engines
Suspension system modes
Wheel hop : 14 Hz
Wheel horizontal mode (SHR): 20 Hz
Vehicle first global modes
Body static stiffness + rear suspension mass
> 25 Hz for sedans and 5 doors
< 20 Hz for convertibles interaction with powertrain and suspension
modes
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
NVH systems engineering
Vehicle and subsystems vibroacoustic behaviour
Ultra Low frequencies physics
Mid-low frequencies physics
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Low frequencies FRF modelling
Acoustic cavity
FEA (NASTRAN)
Modal response
Seats and dashboard modelling
Structural part (trimmed body)
FEA of the full model (NASTRAN)
Modal response
Damping modelling
Trim modelling
Interior Vibro-acoustic response
Modal coupling
Incompatible meshes
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Mid-low frequency synthesis
p
X
F
This formulation allows:
To account for structure-borne as well as air-borne noise and vibrations
Separation of the requirements on the source (powertrain or suspension) and on
the receiver (car body)
The investigation of transmission path
Q
Operative response at given observation points
Acoustic pressure at passengers ear (p)
Vibration at comfort points (X)
Subsystems interaction:
Force and momentum at the connection points (F)
Acoustic sources flow rate (Q)
Transmission of linear vibrations
Frequency Response Function (T)
Structure-borne
Air-borne
(

=
(

Q
F
T T
T T
p
X
AA AV
VA VV
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Transfer path analysis
Decomposition of the response at a given position may be seen as
a sum of contributions from individual input DOFs

=
j
j ij i
F T p
A
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t
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Global
A
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Global
S
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Frequency Range of interest
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p
a
t
h
TPA allows the ranking of contributions, ie points of interest
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Noise synthesis for coupled systems
F
T
u
=X/F
Uncoupled system FRF
Operating forces
Fo
X=Tu Fo
X
Blocking forces
Fb
Coupled system FRF
T
c
=X/F
F
X=Tc Fb
X
2 equivalent ways to compute the system response
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Sources characterization for low frequencies
Mechanical excitation
Operative forces:
Hybrid model identification
Estimation from elastic mounts: K X
Blocking forces:
Specific experimental device, including
force sensors. In use for suspension systems,
tire, powertrains, assembled drive-lines
Acoustic sources
Hybrid model identification
Equivalent point sources
Computation of surface vibration
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Basics of vehicle NVH contents
Vehicle noise source mechanisms
Vehicle NVH attributes
NVH systems engineering
Vehicle and subsystems vibroacoustic behaviour
Ultra Low frequencies physics
Mid-low frequencies physics
High frequencies physics
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High Frequency synthesis
Mainly acoustic problems are relevant at high frequencies
Vibrations at frequencies above 200 Hz are not perceived
Due to high modal densities, dynamic systems at high frequencies are
highly sensitive to small perturbations
Only frequency averaged quantities are relevant 1/3 octave spectra
Response fields tend to be diffuse fields
Spatial homogeneity = space averaged quantities are relevant
Acoustic energy is proportional to the average acoustic pressure
Structural energy is proportional to the average velocity response
Air-borne and Structure-borne sound transmission mechanism are rather
different, but:
Both responses are related to energies
Sources are characterized by powers
High frequencies synthesis rely on power and energy relations
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High Frequency synthesis: structure-borne vs air-borne
Structure-borne noise is naturally attenuated faster than air-borne noise
when frequency increases
Cut-off frequency depends on the source and its location
About 500 Hz for road-noise
About 2 kHz for powertrain noise
.
HF Transfer Path analysis( Peugeot 207 -2000 tr/min
WOT)
Identified air-borne noise
Total measured noise
Total recomposed noise
Structure-borne noise
Air-borne noise
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HF noise control : Sound absorption
Reverberation of sound in cavities is controlled by sound absorption
SPL results of source power level and absorption, according to:
A is the absorption area
is the absorption coefficient
Doubling Absorption area reduces the SPL by 3 dB
Absorption coefficients are measured in a small reverberant room (-cabin)
A Lw Lp
10
log 10 6 + =

=
i
i i
S A
1 0 < <
i

Porous material Resonators

Impact of material thickness
p
i
p
r
Impact of the front layer mass
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HF noise control : Sound transmission
Sound Transmission through panels is characterized by the acoustic
Transmission Loss (TL)
Computed or measured from the ratio of the transmitted power to the
source (diffuse) field energy for a unit surface
TL is measured between 2 reverberant rooms
TL is computed from the SPL difference between the source and receiving
room
Components Insertion Loss (IL = TL) are measured in small cabin
Source room
Receiving room
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HF noise control : Sound transmission
Single panel TL is governed by the mass law
4-6 dB increase when doubling frequency
6 dB increase when doubling mass
TL is not sensitive to damping !!!
Double panel (mass-spring-mass) TL
Similar to a single panel at low frequencies
Worth than mass low at the panel resonance
Much better than mass law above resonance
(12-18 dB/oct)
Leakages, holes allow full sound transmission
TL=0 dB
1/1000 surface leakage on a high insulating
panel limits the TL to 30 dB
Panel performance at very high frequencies is
limited by leakages
Transmission Loss
Single and Double panels
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
125 250 500 1 k 2 k 4 k 8 k 16 k
Frquence (Hz)
Double panel slope
16 dB/Octave
-
Single panel slope
6 dB/Octave
Double panel resonance
C
o
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n
c
i
d
e
n
c
e

z
o
n
e
Higher is
better
|
|

\
|
+ =
1 1
1 1
2
1
M M
K f
R

M
1
K
M
2
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Conclusions
NVH is a component of the vehicle overall comfort
Comfort targets are defined by the marketing division
Vehicles are designed according to these targets
NVH value is estimated around 2-5% of the vehicle value
NVH requirements are cascaded from the vehicle level to the
components and part levels
Almost every component has NVH requirement
NVH teams contribute to the design at every level
NVH performance results of:
The will of designers: NVH targets + NVH design process
The money available for specific NVH treatments
The possible trade-off with other vehicle attributes
Vehicle dynamics
Fuel consumption
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Conclusions
NVH requires knowledge from various fields
Sound perception
Vibration perception
Structural dynamics
Acoustics
Vibroacoustics
Fluid mechanics
Vibroacoustic behaviours depend on frequency
Discrete systems (mass, spring) modes ULF
Elastic modes LF, MF
Statistical approaches HF
NVH performance is controlled by the highest noise contributions
Balance between sources at the customer level
Balance between transmission path at the vehicle attribute level
Airborne transmissions
Structure-borne transmissions
Numerical tools are available for most of simulations required during the design
process
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