An experimental and computational investigation of air-borne noise generation mechanisms in tires

The complex nature of the tire/road noise generation process makes it difficult to isolate and study each mechanism individually. This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation of air-borne tire noise generation mechanisms for a realistic tire. Experimentally, a single slot is cut into the tire and the noise data are measured and studied. Air-borne noise is isolated by filling the slot with foam and comparing the resulting frequency spectra. Numerically, a previously developed computational fluid dynamics tire noise prediction model is employed to predict the air-borne noise for the same tire, under similar operating conditions. A direct comparison between the experimental and computational results is also presented in terms of pressure time traces and spectral characteristics. Comparisons indicate that the computational model is capable of predicting the noise generated by the air pockets in the tire. While providing a deeper understanding of the causes of air-borne noise, this paper also aims to demonstrate the use of a computational tool that can be used to obtain a reasonably accurate prediction of air-borne tire noise.