Measurement, identification, assessment and modelling of winter tyre noise

The noise caused by studded winter tyres is normally more annoying than the noise from ordinary tyres. The tyre noise inside the car is a product of the generated tyre noise and its structural and airborne transfer paths into the car interior.

The annoyance that the driver can experience from the tyres is not only a product of the level but also by the character of the sound and the situation in which the sound is produced. This sound quality aspect is also an important aspect of the total experienced quality of the tyre. The project, is a cooperation between division of Sound & vibration at LTU and a tyre manufacturer.

The project aims at building knowledge necessary for optimisation of tyre sound to achieve tyres that are perceived as more silent and more comfortable. The project comprises: development of methods for subjective and objective measurements of loudness and annoyance of tyres, development of methods for auralisation of interior vehicle tyre sound, knowledge about sound quality methodology on tyres and examination of the couplings between the resulting cabin noise, the noise transfer paths and the noise excitation by tyres.

The project is run in cooperation with Icemakers as a test track provider. A test series with five nominally identical cars and a number of tyres has been carried out.