Tyre/road interaction noise-A 3D viscoelastic multilayer model of a tyre belt

Vehicle noise is an increasing local environmental problem. For cars, above a steady speed of 40 km/h the noise produced by the interaction of the tyres with the road surface is the dominant noise source. In order to be able to predict this noise, the vibration characteristics of a stationary tyre must be determined. A multilayer viscoelastic cylindrical representation of the tyre belt, located between the sidewalls of the tyre and excluding the tread, is provided which yields the displacement and velocity response of the tyre belt when excited in the radial or tangential directions for it wide range of excitation frequencies, using only data from the design process. This model includes it representation of an air cavity and sidewalls and the response of the tyre belt is determined in both the frequency-wavenumber and time-spatial domains. The model can then be used to determine the noise of a tyre rolling on a rough road. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.