Abstract
In the automotive industry noise has become an important attribute because of the competitive market and increasing customer awareness. Over recent years much work has been done to develop simulation tools for vehicle NVH. NVH related analysis has become relatively easy and quicker with the emergence of new CAE methodologies like the boundary element method (BEM) for acoustical analysis. The first generation CAE methodologies provided the analyst for the first time easy to use tools to predict sound levels. Whereas the second generation acoustic system based on BEM not only enhances the accuracy of the modelling, but also provides powerful diagnostic facilities to enable the user to identify the main contributions to the sound intensity at any point of interest.
These named acoustic diagnostic analysis consider the noise at any point and breaks it down into the contributions from the individual body panels. Another procedure is to identify which structural modifications will reduce the emitted noise through by a structural/acoustic sensitivity analysis.
In this paper is showed the use of BEM along with FEM to predict interior noise in the passenger compartment area due to structure-borne excitations. The fluid/structure coupling effect, the acoustic diagnostic analysis based on contributions from body panels and the structural/acoustic sensitivity analysis are evaluated and criticised under the automotive industry point of view. As a result a complex vibro-acoustic diagnosis method based on the reciprocity principle is presented.