| In this thesis, Nearfield Acoustical Holography (NAH) is applied as a tool to study the mechanisms of tire/pavement interaction noise—a major contributor to highway noise. NAH is a technique that reconstructs the three-dimensional acoustic field from a two-dimensional measurement of the complex pressure. Since NAH measurements are conducted in the acoustic nearfield, areas of maximum radiation from the tire may be localized with a much finer resolution than with conventional measurements. Not only can acoustic pressure be reconstructed, but also sound intensity vectors and sound power. To extend NAH from controlled, laboratory experiments to harsh realistic conditions of a rolling tire, NAH is modified to incorporate the effects of a moving medium and multiple partially coherent sources. Tire/pavement interaction noise is composed of several sources, e.g. interactions of the leading and trailing edges of the tire with the pavement, and sidewall vibration. Therefore, NAH is modified to improve separation of acoustic fields associated with multiple partially coherent sources. These techniques are used to visualize the acoustic field of a rolling tire on real pavements. A scanning mechanism is attached to an automobile trailer for measurements of tire noise under realistic conditions. Several types of tires are evaluated, including a blank tire, a tire with equally spaced transverse grooves, a tire with only circumferential grooves, and two commercial passenger car tire. The tires are tested on both smooth and rough pavements, and at two speeds (56 km/hr and 80 km/hr). Wavenumber spectra of the tire and pavement surfaces are computed when possible to quantify the roughness levels. Although the measurements were made along a plane 10 cm from the tire sidewall, sound pressure and intensity are reconstructed along a plane touching the surface of the tire to localize noise source. In addition to the side plane, front and rear planes were evaluated for two configurations to enhance the study of leading and trailing edge noise generation. Finally, sound power for each configuration was calculated to evaluate global trends. These results provide further insight into the sources and mechanisms of tire/pavement interaction noise. |
