In-door laboratory high-speed testing of tire-pavement noise

ABSTRACT

The ability to measure traffic-speed tire-pavement noise in the laboratory is useful for predicting the tire-pavement noise performance of a design mix without conducting expensive and time-consuming field trials. This research developed an in-door high-speed test facility HTP² for tire-pavement noise measurements. Housed in a semi-anechoic room, HTP² has a circular test track of vertical wall, and a horizontal rotating arm system mounted with full-scale test tires. The test track can accommodate 12 specimens in each test run. The highest test speed achievable is currently 70 km/h, eventually 100 km/h when fully developed. The On-Board Sound Intensity Method was adopted for tire-pavement noise measurement. Tests were conducted to assess the reliability and repeatability of the test facility. Additional tests involving eight different pavement surface types were performed to illustrate that HTP2 was able to (i) measure sound intensity-frequency characteristics of tire-pavement noise matching those of actual vehicles and pavements, (ii) differentiate sound intensity of tire-pavement noise generated by different pavement types, (iii) identify increase in tire-pavement noise caused by texturing of concrete pavement, (iv) detect differences between tire-pavement noise generated by longitudinally and transversely tined concrete pavements, and (v) measure effects of surface macrotexture on tire-pavement noise.

KEYWORDS:

• Tire-pavement noise
• On-Board Sound Intensity (OBSI)
• laboratory tire -pavement noise testing
• sound intensity
• sound intensity spectrum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51578076] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Changan University [grant number CHD300102219207].