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An overview of automobile noise and vibration

control

Article in Noise Notes · March 2014

DOI: 10.1260/1475-4738.13.1.43

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 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

An overview of automobile noise and

vibration control
A. R. Mohanty* and S. Fatima
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

effected without the need for manufacturing

Abstract prototypes. Computer aided engineering
In this paper the current state-of-the-art techniques have evolved to determine the
techniques in automobile noise and vibration vibration response of automobile components
control are presented. Automobile designers and also the noise radiated by such
and manufacturers have to pay attention to components. Finite element methods have
the global competition of their products, been used for structural analysis to determine
adherence to legislative regulations and the stress induced in components because of
passenger/driver comfort while designing an the static and dynamic loads they are
automobile and its components. Designers subjected to. These structural components
can take advantage of efficient numerical also respond dynamically to the loads,
modeling techniques so that in before the measured in terms of their vibration. Once
prototype of the automobile is produced, the the structure vibrates the air molecules next to
design can be tweaked and modified by using it are imparted oscillatory motion and these in
computer aided models to optimize the turn propagate the energy as longitudinal
design with a target of achieving low noise sound waves which are finally incident on the
and vibration levels in the prototype. Here, listener’s eardrum and then one gets a
examples of some typical cases are provided sensation of hearing. This sound in an
where optimum levels of noise and vibration automobile is both heard in the vehicle
level are obtained in the design of interior by the passenger and the driver as well
automobile components using computer as outside by the passerby. The aim of a noise
aided engineering techniques control designer is to reduce these sound
pressure levels which are either heard by the
Keywords: Sound, Quality, Engine, Powertrain, person inside the vehicle or outside the
Passby Noise, Exhaust Noise, FEM vehicle. Several computer aided design
techniques exist for evaluating the
performance of such automobiles in terms of
1. Introduction the noise level they generate. And there exist
There has been a continuous growth in the many engineering methods to mitigate the
research and development in the different noise. In the subsequent sections the major
aspects of automobiles. In fact many of the sources of noise generation in an automobile
major engineering innovations have finally will be presented followed by a discussion on
been implemented in automobiles, and many some of the CAE techniques and experimental
are also being done at present. Computer techniques used to mitigate it. The paper
aided engineering techniques have helped in concludes with a section on sound quality,
the design process, by reducing the time taken where in the quality of the sound produced by
for a design analysis and also providing many the design can be evaluated so that the design
engineering solutions where designs can be with the most pleasant sound is chosen.

*Corresponding Author
A. R. Mohanty* Ph. D., Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India 721302
Email: [email protected]
Contact No: +91 - 3222 - 282944

S. Fatima, Research Scholar

Acoustics and Condition Monitoring Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India 721302
Email: [email protected]

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 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

2. Sources of automobile noise also increases. This phenomenon produces the

In any noise control technique the high frequency tyre noise one hears when the
identification of the source and its vehicle is moving at high speeds. The noise
characterization is the first and foremost levels are so high that at times at high speeds
things to be done. Researchers throughout the one only hears the tyre road interaction noise
world have found by measurement and and not the powertrain radiated noise. Apart
simulations that the primary noise sources in from the tread air pocket noise, the sidewall
an automobile are the powertrain, tyre/ road vibration of a tyre in motion also produces
interaction and wind flow. noise. The tyre noise is predominantly a high
frequency airborne noise.
2.1 Powertrain noise
The conventional internal combustion engine 2.3 Wind noise
– either the petrol or the diesel engine – is the When the automobile is in motion, there is a
major source of noise in an automobile. The relative motion between the air which is
noise from the engine is mainly due to the impacting the vehicle and the vehicle body.
combustion process, which in turn is radiated This air at high speeds also tries to force into
by the engine components like the cylinder the passenger cavity through the gaps between
block, valve cover, timing chain cover, oil the doors and the frame through the
sump and so on. The noise of such an engine windshield and other seals. This noise is again
is predominantly structure borne and low high frequency in nature and is predominantly
frequency in nature, typically less than 500 air-borne. The wind noise thus heard in the
Hz. The radiated noise is usually at the vehicle interior increases with the increase of
engine firing frequency and its harmonics. In the vehicle speed.
diesel engines it has been found that the fuel
pump/injector system is a strong source of 3. Computer aided engineering
engine noise. The turbo-charger which is techniques
driven by the exhaust noise also produces a To reduce the design lead time engineers have
high frequency noise, which is known as the adopted computer based numerical techniques
turbo whine with a frequency which is equal for the estimation of the radiated noise and
to the product of the turbine rotating vibration levels in a short time. Nowadays
frequency and the total number of vanes there are many commercial computer codes
present in the turbo-charger. In large engines, for such simulations. These simulations are
the volume of air which is sucked into the economical and quick to provide a solution
inlet manifold during every cycle of the engine before the high cost intensive prototypes can
while in operation is also a major source of be manufactured. In the following sections
induction noise. The radiated engine noise some of the popular computer aided
increases with the engine speed. Typically IC engineering techniques are described for noise
engines used in an every day automobile and vibration control.
operate at around a maximum of 6000 RPM,
and the radiated noise has a relatively low 3.1 Finite element method
frequency content. The gearbox housing and Finite element method (FEM) has evolved as a
flywheel cover are also responsible for numerical tool for elastic analysis of structures
radiating the low frequency noise. The exhaust to determine the stress induced in a
noise which one hears from an automobile is component due to both static and dynamic
due to opening and closing of the exhaust load, amongst others. Durability and fatigue
valve in every cycle of the engine, and analysis of automobile components are done
contributes to the air-borne noise one hears by FEM. Dynamic analysis, involving free and
from the automobile [1]. forced response of automobile components
and structures is done by the techniques of
2.2 Tyre/road interaction noise FEM. From the forced response analysis of
Tyres in automobile are designed with a the automobile body, its vibration response in
certain tread pattern, so that they provide terms of the structural velocity at every finite
adequate traction to the vehicle for motion. node point of the computer model of the
The pockets in the tread suck in air into the component/ body is calculated at the desired
space between the road and the tyre tread, and frequency of interest. FEM is also used to
throw out the air from the pockets while the determine the natural frequencies of the
tyre is rotating. When the vehicle speed components. Automobile designers avoid
increases the frequency of the sucking and having a component’s natural frequency equal
throwing out of the air from the tread pocket to the forcing or operating frequency and also

JUNE 2013 11
 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

ensure that no two components have the same FEM techniques are also being used for
natural frequency. This is ensured by analysis of components in these vehicles.
generating a modal alignment chart of all
components before the prototype is built. 3.2 Boundary element method
FEM is a very computationally intensive Unlike the FEM, where the entire three
process, and large memory and high speed dimensional body has to be discretized, in the
computers are required to solve the FE boundary element method (BEM) only the
models. A typical automobile body could boundary needs to be discretized. This
have at least around 500,000 FE nodes where reduces the computational requirement to
the equations need to be solved. solve the numerical problem. Once the
There are many commercial FE software vibration responses from FE are known at the
available for solving such problems. Fig. 1 surfaces (boundary) of the automobile body,
shows the FE model of a truck cab [2]. BEM can be used to determine the acoustic
Recently FEM is also being used for response at a location away from the
performing thermal domain and boundary. This is widely used to predict the
electromagnetic analysis in mechanical radiated noise from a structure (automobile
systems. With the global move towards body in the present case) whose surface
development of electric and hybrid vehicles, vibration velocity is known by performing a
forced response analysis using FEM. BEM has
been used to predict the interior noise levels in
the passenger cavity of an automobile, the
radiated noise from a powertrain and the
design of exhaust mufflers. As the frequency
of prediction increases the number of element
in the model has to increase for numerical
accuracy. The numerical model must be fine
enough to represent the distribution of
vibration on the surface of the body [3]. With
the present day state-of-the-art computational
resources available, numerical models for
analysis using both FEM and BEM are less
than 1000 Hz. Usually all the structure-borne
excitations and radiated noise is less than
1000 Hz.
An FEM/BEM combination CAE analysis
was done to predict the interior noise level at
the driver’s right ear (DRE) location due to
structural vibrational excitations at the four
Figure 1. FE model of a truck cab [4] cab mount locations [4]. Fig. 2 shows the SPL

Figure 2. CAE prediction of SPL at DRE with various sound absorbing materials [4]

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AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

at DRE. It is seen that by varying the sound subsystems are connected by joints which
absorbing material in the cab headliner (roof) allow a motion in certain degrees of freedom
the SPL at DRE can be changed. Thus by and constraint in the remaining degrees of
such a CAE analysis, an effective selection of freedom. For tuning the suspension system of
the sound absorbing material can be made. an automobile, the stiffness of the suspension
system can be varied to have the desirable
3.3 Statistical energy analysis response at some of the touch and feel points
Another CAE technique for high frequency of the vehicle, like the seat and steering wheel
noise prediction is the statistical energy vibration. This type of rigid body dynamics
analysis (SEA) [5]. Because of the element size through CAE saves a lot of time and resource,
restriction, for high frequency simulations the since it is quick and inexpensive, compared to
FE model has to have a large number of an actual proving ground test.
elements, which becomes a computational Fig. 3 shows a truck in a proving ground
challenge. SEA deals with the transfer of with potholes on the test track for vehicle ride
energy between various sub-systems, the and handling quality evaluations. Such a
response of a sub-system could be the track can also be used for durability studies on
acoustical pressure or velocity. SEA also the automobile components.
assumes that the energy in a sub-system is
concentrated at its modal frequency. And at 3.5 Computational fluid dynamics
high frequencies, particularly in structures the Flow noise around a vehicle increases
number of modes increases in a cubic manner. significantly with the increase in the relative
The energy transfer between the sub-systems is air speed as a power law. The noise levels
governed by a coupling loss factor. The produced in the interior of the vehicle is
damping in the system is responsible for the usually reduced by having effective seals
dissipation of the energy. The input to the around the windshield and doors. The air
system could be the external excitations of resistance on the vehicle can be reduced by
force or sound pressure. For structure-borne streamlining the frontal area thus reducing the
excitation usually force or vibration is drag coefficient. Such tests are done using a
considered, and for air-borne excitation three dimensional scale model in a wind
acoustic pressure is considered. For tunnel. However, again through
performing a SEA on an automobile, the computational fluid dynamics, by solving the
major subsystems could be the body structure, Navier-Stokes (NS) equation or the energy
doors, windshields etc. Again several equation the flow and pressure field due to the
commercial computer codes are available for relative motion of the fluid over the solid body
SEA. can be studied [6-7]. Engineers have now
used CFD to study the noise generated by a
3.4 Rigid body dynamics radiator cooling fan, air conditioning fan,
A rigid body is considered to be inelastic, and determining a streamline profile for a high
thus will not deform under the application of speed vehicle all on a computer, without even
force. Such a rigid body in space which is not building the three dimensional body or doing
constrained, and is free to have motion in any a wind tunnel test.
direction, will have six predominant motions.
Three of the motions are translational and the
remaining three being rotational. To study the
motion of a vehicle, which is subjected to
excitations from the power train and the road
while in motion, a rigid body model of the
vehicle is created. Rigid body dynamics
enables one to understand the ride and
handling characteristics of a vehicle on the
computer. Though in a proving ground
provisions are physically available to study
and measure the dynamic response of a vehicle
to standard ride and handling maneuvers. To
make a rigid model of a system, the geometry
of the system along with the mass needs to be
known, with the location of the center of
gravity, and all the motions will be around the Figure 3: Pothole track in a vehicle testing
center of gravity of the rigid body. The proving ground

JUNE 2013 13
 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

control engineers are also looking into the

quality of sound as perceived by listeners, and
methods to improve the sound quality.
Secondly, there are regulations in place as to
how much exterior sound from the vehicle as
a whole can be heard by a bystander away
from the vehicle. There are international
standards to measure the passby noise levels
for two wheelers and four wheelers.
Throughout the world automobile designers
strive to ensure that the automobiles
Figure 4. Passby noise measurements of a truck manufactured out of their design satisfy the
at a test track permissible passby noise levels in a globally
competitive market. For example, the limits
4. Noise and vibration target of the passby noise of vehicles manufactured
Every designer has a problem in hand as to in India after the year 2005 are given in Table
what is the achievable target level in terms of 1. The data has been provided by the Central
noise and vibration for the automobile? One Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of the
approach designers take is to design for target Government of India. The passby noise levels
levels lower than their competitors or past measurements are made as per the BIS:3028-
surrogate designs. Of course these 1998 standard [8] . Essentially the vehicle is
manufacturers and designers are also required made to move at full throttle in a particular
to abide by the local regulatory standards for gear depending upon the engine power in a
the products. straight stretch of 50 m in a free field
environment. The passby noise is measured at
4.1 Noise levels in automobiles an offset of 7.5 m from the center of the test
An automobile designer has to keep two track at a calm wind speed condition. Fig. 4
important parameters in mind while designing shows the passby noise measurements being
for noise levels in a vehicle. First, the interior done a truck at a test track near IIT
noise level as heard by the passenger/driver Kharagpur. Fig. 5 shows the recorded noise
has to be the minimum, since every other time history during the passby noise
manufacturer is putting in efforts to keep the measurements. In one instance the passby
interior noise level as low as possible. Noise noise level of a farm tractor was reduced by

Table 1. Passby noise limits of vehicles manufactured in India after 2005

Sl. no. Vehicle type Passby noise l

evel in dBA
1.0 Two Wheeler
1.1 Displacement upto 80 cc 75
1.2 Displacement more than 80 cc but upto 175 cc 77
1.3 Displacement more than 175 cc 80
2.0 Three wheeler
2.1 Displacement upto 175 cc 77
2.2 Displacement more than 175 cc 80
3.0 Vehicles used for carriage of passengers and capable of having not more than 74
nine seats including the driver’s seat
4.0 Vehicles used for carriage of passengers having more than nine seats, including
the driver’s seat and a maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) of more than 3.5 tonnes
4.1 With an engine power less than 150 kW 78
4.2 With an engine power of 150 kW or above 80
5.0 Vehicles used for carriage of passengers having more than nine seats, including the
driver’s seat: Vehicles used for carriage of goods
5.1 With maximum GVW not exceeding 2 tonnes 76
5.2 With maximum GVW greater than 3 tonnes but not exceeding 3.5 tonnes 77
6.0 Vehicles used for transport of goods with a maximum GVW exceeding 3.5 tonnes
6.1 With an engine power less than 75 kW 77
6.2 With an engine power of 75 kW or above but less than 150 kW 78
6.3 With an engine power of 150 kW or above 80

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AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

placing the muffler inside the hood of the natural frequency of the steering wheel was
tractor, and just having the muffler tail pipe coincident with the engine firing frequency.
sticking out of the engine. Fig. 6 shows the Then, through a design modification of the
underhood muffler housed in the farm tractor. steering wheel its natural frequency was
Many a times engine encapsulation is done, shifted away from the engine firing frequency.
especially around the fuel pumps to reduce the Thus, the steering wheel vibration was
passby noise. reduced by avoiding the resonance condition
[9].

5. Noise control strategy

Figure 5. Measured sound pressure time

waveform during a passby noise test
Figure 7: Radiated noise map of a truck

The very first step in noise control is to rank

the noise source in terms of the level of noise
they produce and also know the frequency
content of the noise source. Typically, in an
automobile the high noise sources at moderate
speeds are the powertrain including the
exhaust noise, followed by the tire/road
interaction noise and the wind noise.
However at high speeds the above order
changes. In Fig. 7 the measured SPL when the
truck-chassis was idling is shown, it is shown
that the high noise producing areas are around
Figure 6: Underhood muffler in tractor for the rear of the engine near the flywheel
reduction in passby noise housing [10].
Once the noise sources has been ranked,
4.2 Vibration levels in automobiles some of the noise control measures which can
The ride and handling characteristics of be introduced are; have close dimensional
vehicles are evaluated by the vibration levels tolerances between the mating parts, provide
at all the touch points like, seat vibration, lubrication between the mating parts and
pedal vibration, steering wheel vibration and reduce the speed of the rotating shaft, if
rear view mirror shake. There are OSHA possible. Another noise reduction technique
(Occupational Safety and Health used in automobiles is to apply a dampening
Administration) standards as to the coating and appropriately apply structural
permissible limit of the vibration a human stiffeners to reduce the sound radiation
being can be subjected to. However, again efficiency.
because of global competition, vehicle
manufacturers try to minimize the vibration 5.1 Airborne and structureborne noise
levels at these evaluation points to make a path control
better product, with minimum amount of Apart from noise control at source the noise
vibration. Through FEM based CAE analysis can be controlled by controlling the
design optimization can be done to achieve the impedance of the path through which the
same. vibro-acoustic energy flows. In an automobile
In one instance in a farm tractor there was there are two important paths of energy flow,
excessive steering wheel vibration when the one being the structure and the other being the
engine was started and idling. Through a fluid (air). A typical structure borne-path in
CAE modal analysis it was found that the an automobile is of the sound heard in the

JUNE 2013 15
 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

passenger cavity due to the vibrations from rigid material. The sound absorbing materials
the powertrain transmitted through the have many pores in them, and the sound
elastomeric engine and body mounts. Thus by energy is lost to this material by the viscous
proper selection of the stiffness of these interaction at the walls by the sound waves
mounts, the structure-borne noise can be propagating through them. These materials
reduced. Same technique can also be used in are characterized by the normal sound
the suspension rate selection for reduction of absorbing coefficient as a function of
noise levels in the passenger cavity due to road frequency which has a value between 0 and 1.
excitations. The thicker the sound absorbing material the
The airborne path is predominantly the better is its sound absorbing property.
path taken by the fluid transferring the vibro- Manufacturers provide the sound absorbing
acoustic energy. This is reduced by having property of these materials with a NRC
sound absorbing materials in the path, for (Noise Reduction Coefficient) value in their
example, a sound absorbing material lined product catalogs. Fiber glass, open cell
duct for the heating, ventilating and air- polyurethane foam, cotton and coir are typical
conditioning (HVAC) unit placed in the sound absorbing materials used for noise
instrument panel (IP) or dashboard of the control in automobiles. Recently, we at the
vehicle. Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur jute
Another way to reduce the airborne noise is materials have been successfully used as a
by having triple layer seals on the edges of the sound absorbing material for noise control
door, so that it completely shuts off the air [12]. The normal specific sound absorbing
flowing around the door edges at high speeds coefficients of different materials measured at
to flow into the passenger cavity. The firewall the laboratory as per the ASTM E-1050
can be made up of sound blocking materials, standard is provided in Fig. 8[13].
which will reduce the noise transmitted from Sound blocking materials are characterized
the engine component to the passenger cavity. by the amount of sound energy they block. A
good sound blocking material is a bad sound
5.2 Acoustical materials absorber. Heavy elastomer sheets, thick glass
Acoustical materials used for noise control can sheets and thick metal plates are used as
be broadly classified into three categories, sound barrier materials. Whereas a
namely (a) Sound Absorbing Materials, (b) combination of sound absorbers and blocking
Sound Barrier Materials and (c) Damping material is used in automobile headliners,
Materials [11]. The sound absorbing door trims and floor carpets. The sound
materials absorb sound over a large frequency blocking or barrier materials are usually
range, and are usually supported or glued to a classified by the transmission loss and they are

Figure 8. Sound absorption coefficient of different materials[11]

16 NOISE & VIBRATION WORLDWIDE

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AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

characterized by their Sound Transmission

Class (STC) rating. The heavier the surface
density the better is the sound blocking
property. There exists an international
standard to measure the transmission loss/STC
rating of such barrier material [14].
Damping material is used for noise control
by applying them to sheet metals which are
under resonance. Areas which have high
vibration amplitudes during resonance can be
coated with damping materials to reduce their Figure 9. Hemi-anechoic chamber used for
vibration levels, for example the coating of an autmobile noise measurements [16]
engine oil pan, or pasting a damping sheet to
the door panel. These materials are quantified
by their damping factor, which is measured by
the half-power point method in the laboratory,
by a very simple cantilever beam excitation
technique [15]. Dynamic Mechanical
Analyzer (DMA) is available to estimate the
damping factors of materials at different
temperature as well, since these properties are
also temperature dependent.

6. Noise and vibration testing

Prototypes and surrogates of automobiles need
to be tested for validation of the CAE analysis.
From such tests, data are acquired using Figure 10. View of a chassis roll dynamometer
multi-channel data acquisition system for [16]
input to the CAE models and compliance with
mandatory regulatory requirements.
Normally these tests are done in proving
grounds where different track conditions are
made, like potholes, washboard, rumblers, wet
track etc. The tests in the proving grounds are
normally for testing the vehicle and its
components for durability analysis and vehicle
ride and handling. However for noise and
vibration testing the tests are usually done in a
hemi-anechoic chamber with a chassis
dynamometer to motor the vehicle. The hemi-
anechoic chamber, has its four sidewalls and Figure 11. Instrumented engine-eddy current
roof lined with wedged shaped sound dynamometer test rig
absorbing material and a hard floor. A free
field environment is created in a hemi- triggered virtual laboratory on automotive
anechoic chamber. The noise and vibration systems at our institute.
measurements on the power train are usually
done in an engine test cell, where again the 7. Muffler design
walls are lined with sound absorbing Mufflers are used to reduce the radiated noise
materials, wherein the engine is usually loaded from the exhaust of an engine. Mufflers are
by a dynamometer, and the engine test cell broadly of two categories, (a) reactive and (b)
operations are controlled by an operator dissipative. Reactive mufflers are usually used
through a computer aided instrumented panel. in automobiles and are made of tubes with
Fig. 9 is a hemi-anechoic chamber which is perforations and baffles, enclosed in a shell.
used for noise and vibration studies in an The reactive mufflers reduce noise by an
automobile. Fig. 10 is a view of a chassis roll impedance mismatch of the inlet acoustical
dynamometer which is used to study tyre wave. Generally they are designed for low-
noise. Fig. 11 shows an IC engine-eddy frequency noise reduction. Dissipative
current dynamometer which is used for engine mufflers, are usually mufflers lined with sound
fault diagnosis and experiments on remote absorbing materials, and they are effective for

JUNE 2013 17
 AN OVERVIEW OF
AUTOMOBILE NOISE
AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

high frequency noise reduction. Dissipative Fig. 14.

mufflers are generally avoided in automobiles,
because the burned particles in the exhaust 7. Sound quality
can clog the pores of the sound absorbing Sound quality is the study of the perception of
lining in the dissipative muffler and render noise as heard by a human being only. Earlier
them ineffective. in noise control, a reduction in the sound
Mufflers are evaluated by three parameters, pressure level was considered desirable since a
namely (a) Noise Reduction, (b) Insertion Loss noise reduction has been achieved. However,
and (c) Transmission Loss. The mufflers are for the same level of noise, one noise may
designed by evaluating the outlet acoustic sound pleasant than the other to the human
velocity and pressure to that of the inlet ear. So there was a need for establishing other
acoustic velocity and pressure, with that of the features of the noise by which a measured
transfer function of the individual muffler noise can be characterized. Some of these
elements [17]. Commercial software are parameters are known as the sound quality
available in which a library of the transfer metrics like the loudness, speech interference
function for various reactive muffler elements level, tonality, articulation index, etc. Many
exist. The cut section view of a perforated commercial sound quality software are
muffler used in a farm tractor is shown in Fig. available using which these sound quality
12. The test setup to measure the transmission metrics can be estimated. Sound pressure level
loss of the muffler in the laboratory is shown measured is usually presented in the dBA
in Fig. 13. The predicted and measured scale, however if one computes the other
transmission loss of the muffler is shown in sound quality metrics, a better correlation
with the human perception and the measured
sound quality parameters can be obtained.
In order to accurately reflect the perception
of sound as is heard by a human being using
two ears with a three dimensional spatial
Figure 12. Inside view of the tractor muffler sound field, measurements using a human
torso with two microphones placed at the ear
locations on the torso are used instead of a
single microphone as is done for passby noise
measurements of a vehicle. Any design
modifications to improve the sound quality
can be evaluated by computing the sound
quality metrics after the sound has been
measured through a human audio torso
simulator (HATS). Edited sound files can be
played back on a headphone for jury
evaluation, to decide on the most acceptable
sound wave and thus the design. Fig. 15
shows the sound quality jury evaluation being
Figure 13. Transmission loss testing setup for muffler [17] done in the laboratory.

Figure 15. Sound quality jury evaluation using

Figure 14. Measured and predicted transmission loss of the muffler [17]. HATS in the laboratory

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AND VIBRATION
CONTROL

8. Conclusions [9] Mohanty A. R., Overall Noise and

This paper provides in brief some CAE based Vibration Reduction in Farm Tractors,
case studies which have been used to control Technical Report, IIT Kharagpur,India,
the noise and vibration in automobiles. A brief 2001.
description of the various CAE techniques
used by engineers round the globe has been [10] Mohanty A. R., Noise Mapping of a
presented. The significance and importance of Commercial Vehicle Model 10.90,
CAE techniques over traditional prototypes Technical report, IIT Kharagpur, India,
testing and evaluation has been demonstrated. 1999.
The importance of sound quality as a measure
of the design has been pointed out. A [11] Mohanty A. R., Acoustical Materials for
comprehensive engineering method can be Automotive NVH Reduction, Solid
developed for noise and vibration control in Mechanics and its Applications, 2002,
automobile using above CAE techniques. 102, 21-25.

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Noise in the wilderness annoys

The number of visitors annoyed by the continual thud of aircraft flying over Fox and Franz
Josef glaciers (New Zealand) has increased to almost one in four. The Department of
Conservation’s aircraft monitoring survey showed that, although over half (61 per cent) of
all visitors to the glacier valleys felt ‘neutral’ in terms of how aircraft had affected their
visits, 24.8 per cent of respondents reported being ‘annoyed’ by aircraft.

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