NOISE VIBRATION HARSHNESS-AN OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION:
NVH is an industry term that stands for noise, vibration, and harshness.
It is a search for the source of a noise, shake, or vibration, and it refers to the entire range of
vibration perception, from hearing to feeling.
Noise is unwanted sound; vibration is the oscillation that is typically felt rather than heard.
Harshness is generally used to describe the severity and discomfort associated with unwanted
sound and/or vibration, especially from short duration events.
NVH is also called sound quality analysis, which involves metrics such as loudness, sharpness,
sound exposure level, and others.

REDUCTION OF NVH:
As a natural consequence of modern society's frenetic manufacturing, transportation and
communication activities, sound and vibration affect environment and all of us. They affect the
safety of our vehicles, the construction of our buildings, and the level of noise at home and work.
Our escalating demands for safety and physical wellbeing mirror our increased awareness of the
effects of noise and vibration.

Our cars are extensively tested to make sure they can withstand the mechanical shocks imposed
on them. Likewise, any safety equipment, such as airbags, will make good use of vibration
transducers to act as critical sensors that signal danger and trigger appropriate action. The noise
that your car makes will have been analyzed to make sure that it does not spoil the environment
of those around you. There are many other examples of how sound and vibration affects all of us,
such as the noise from planes flying overhead, dishwasher, your neighbors, or tiresome use of
lawnmower.

It is fortunate then, that in every sector of industry, in every part of the scientific community, and
in all aspects of our daily lives, there are people who dedicate their working lives to sound and
vibration, controlling their harmful effects. Noise is a controllable pollutant that deserves the
attention of lawmakers, health and occupational specialists, and consumers. Modern research
affords us the opportunity to understand the subject better and to develop abatement
technologies.

NVH reduction seems to be the primary objective, continuing slogan and goal of any industry
today. Competition has been growing rapidly to see who can make the quietest and smoothest
running cars, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines. In crowded and mature markets, such as
domestic appliances, sound quality testing is one way to differentiate a product from that of
competitors. It also plays a vital role in the saleability of a product.
TEST EQUIPMENT:
Analyzers, shakers and controllers, accelerometers, noise dosimeters, octave band filters,
transducers for vibration and acoustics, dynamometers, sound level meters, microphones, and
analysis software.

With technology changing every day, focus is shifting more toward the development of PC based
analyzers, multichannel NVH data acquisition systems, acoustic holography devices, laser
vibrometers, and anechoic test cells.

NVH test equipment are used for various applications such as:

 Engine noise vibration testing

 Acoustic performance testing

 Sound power testing

 Pass by noise testing

 Telephone testing

 Environmental noise measurements and noise field mapping

 Structural dynamics and vibration testing

 Occupational health and safety

Advantages of NVH Test Equipment

 Real-time multi-analysis is possible in one test run

 Results obtained are accurate and precise
 Report generation is made easy
 Shorter lead times, and hence improved productivity
INTRODUCTION TO TRUE FULL NVH VEHICLE SIMULATION
1. Meshing
2. Assembly
3. Load case setup
4. Full vehicle optimization
1. MESHING:
ACOUSTIC CAVITY MESHER:
 Capability to preview cavities found by auto scan
 Separate hole and gap control
 Generates congruent mesh with seat cavities or MPCs to couple with existing seat mesh
 High quality tetra or mixed hexa/tetra mesh
 Creates hole elements that can be modified to customize cavity definition

 Browser can be used to select which cavities in preview should be meshed.

• Can create non-conforming hexa-tetra or all-tetra meshes.

• Can input response points from CSV file or use existing nodes (thus, maintain ID).

• Can specify minimum values for resulting hexa jacobian ratio and tet-collapse

2. ASSEMBLY:

Step 1: Start NVH

Step 2: Define Assembly Hierarchy
Step 3: Load an Assembly Definition XML file
Step 4: Save an Assembly Definition XML file
Step 5: Define Module Representations
Step 6: Import Display Representations
Step 7: Manage TagPoints
Step 8: Prepare a Module for Assembly
Step 9: Define Connections between Modules
Step 10: Define Connection Information and Properties
Step 11: Manage Analysis

3. LOAD CASE TOOLS:

The loadcase setup framework
• Process manager to gather user input and generate solver cards
• 3D display for entity selections as a part of the user input
• Optionally, loadstep browser can be used to review and customize generated solver cards
Loadcase setup process managers have been developed for
• Normal modes
• CMS SE generation
• Unit input frequency response
• Random PSD frequency response
• General frequency response
THE PROCESS MANAGER TO GENERATE A DYNAMIC STIFFNESS FRF:
Step 1: Start Process Manager
Step 2: Select Solution Type
Step 3: Select Analysis Frequencies
Step 4: Normal Mode Extraction
Step 5: Define Loads / Inputs
Step 6: input Transfer Function Requests
Step 7: Add Response Points
Step 8: Miscellaneous Options
Step 8 and 9: SPC and MPC Selection
Step 10: Parameter Selection
Step 11: Export Deck
FULL VEHICLE NVH OPTIMIZATION:
Run vehicle simulation
• Identify problem loadcase and responses
Identify key areas to optimize
• Perform diagnostic analysis
• Conduct what-if studies
• Identify key component/panel and design variables
• Keep ‘design’ area as detailed FE mesh
Reduce non-design parts of the vehicle
 Reduce to CMS Super Elements
 Combined Fluid-Structural SE
 Acoustic Cavity is included in the SE
 Export of reduced matrices
  Stiffness
 Mass
 Structural damping and viscous damping
 DMIG input and output
Optimize design variables
 Size, shape, topology, topography
 Mastic or Beads on panels
 Weight