Mechanism of Tire / Road Noise Emission and Reduction Technology

The significant noise reduction has been brought by recent electrification of power train of vehicles. More concern about impact on the health due to the environmental noise, especially road traffic noise, requires further reduction of tire / road noise emission caused by the contact between the tire and road surface. The tire / road noise emission mechanism can be described by three different systems such as the excitation, the response, and the propagation. The excitation is composed of the road excitation, the tread excitation, the air-pumping and the friction. The tire structural response and the acoustic response in the void formed inside contact patch are respectively excited by those sources. The recent technology development in numerical analysis and test methods allow us to investigate the detailed behavior of tire in various rolling condition. The present article gives progresses on the mechanism understanding of tire / road noise emission and some reduction technologies.