Original Article

Proc IMechE Part D:

J Automobile Engineering
226(9) 1171–1184
Image-based approach to optimize the Ó IMechE 2012
Reprints and permissions:
tyre pitch sequence for a reduction in sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0954407012439950

the air-pumping noise based on a pid.sagepub.com

genetic algorithm

Eui-Youl Kim, Sung-Wook Hwang and Sang-Kwon Lee

Abstract
The paper presents a novel approach to solving problems involved in the application of a genetic algorithm to determine
the optimal tyre pitch sequence to reduce the tyre air-pumping noise which is generated by the repeated compression
and expansion of the air cavity between the tyre pitch and the road surface. The genetic algorithm was used to deter-
mine the optimal tyre pitch sequence with a low level of tyre air-pumping noise using the image-based air-pumping
model. In the genetic algorithm used in previous studies, there are a number of problems related to the encoding struc-
ture and the selection of an objective function. This paper proposes a single encoding element with five integers, a diver-
gent objective function based on an evolutionary process, and the optimal evolutionary rate based on the Shannon
entropy in an attempt to solve the problems. The results of the proposed genetic algorithm with an evolutionary process
are compared with those of a randomized algorithm. The randomized algorithm is a traditional method used to obtain
the tyre pitch sequence. It was confirmed that the genetic algorithm more effectively reduces the peak value of the pre-
dicted tyre air-pumping noise. The consistency and cohesion of the obtained simulation results are also improved.

Keywords
Tyre air-pumping noise, image-based noise prediction, genetic algorithm, Shannon entropy

Date received: 5 August 2011; accepted: 27 January 2012

Introduction is changed, the finite element model for a CFD analysis

Tyre air-pumping noise is one of the major noise
sources of noise inside a vehicle. In terms of psycho-
acoustics, the annoyance caused by noise sources inside
a passenger car highly depends on the relative relation-
ships between the noise sources.1–5 Therefore, in an
electric-powered vehicle,6–8 the tyre air-pumping noise
becomes important because other noises such as engine
noise and transmission noise are not present in the
cabin of a vehicle. In this sense, this research aims to
reduce the tyre air-pumping noise which is generated by
the repeated compression and expansion of the air cav-
ity between the tyre pitch and the road surface.9–11 It
focuses on how to predict the tyre air-pumping noise
and to optimize the tyre pitch sequence without using
complicated numerical methods. For a prediction of the
tyre air-pumping noise, a hybrid prediction method12 is
suggested that combines the computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) method and the Kirchhoff integral
method. However, its computational load is the highest.
Moreover, whenever the shape of the tyre pitch length
must be modified repeatedly, which naturally increases
the cost and the time needed during the development
process. A square-wave-based method13,14 was pre-
sented to predict the tyre air-pumping noise roughly by
Fourier modelling the tyre pitch sequence with a square
wave. The computational load is relatively low in this
method and the effects of minor pitch elements on the
tyre pitch length can be ignored owing to the limitations
of the Fourier transform method; however, this is not
true for the groove elements, which are one of the major
pattern elements. An image-based analysis method15
was introduced to predict the tyre air-pumping noise
Acoustics and Vibration Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea
Corresponding author:
Sang-Kwon Lee, Acoustics and Vibration Signal Processing Laboratory,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-
Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea.
Email: sangkwon@inha.ac.kr
1172
Figure 1. The basic structure of the tyre pitch sequence optimization process using a genetic algorithm.
RMS: r.m.s.
directly by modelling the air pumping in a pixel-based
image format. This method makes it possible to con-
sider the effects of the depth and the minor pitch ele-
ments in detail with a relatively small amount of
computation. The functional requirement to predict the
tyre air-pumping noise is to ensure sufficient accuracy
within a short time in spite of the frequent modifica-
tions, as the tyre pitch length is frequently modified by
the close collaboration between the designer and the
engineer at the beginning of the development process of
the tyre pattern. For this reason, the image-based
method is popular. In the image-based method, the
optimization algorithm for the optimal tyre pitch
sequence is important. Although the tyre air-pumping
noise is affected by the various design parameters and
the environment conditions, it can be modelled simply
as a function of the tyre pitch pattern shape, the leading
edge shape and the pitch sequence, as shown in Figure
1. Among these three design parameters, the tyre pitch
sequence is commonly recognized in many research
papers as an independent design parameter having a
high degree of freedom in reducing the air-pumping
noise. The performance levels of heuristic algorithms
were compared in the process of finding the optimal
tyre pitch sequence,13,14 and it was concluded that the
genetic algorithm is more useful than other heuristic
algorithms owing to the relatively small amount of
Figure 2. The image-based tyre air-pumping noise prediction method using a simplified air cavity model.
Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
computation and the low possibility of local conver-
gence error. In the genetic algorithm used in previous
research, there were some problems in the encoding
structure and in the selection of an objective function.
This paper proposes a single encoding element with
five integers, a divergent objective function based on an
evolutionary process, and the determination of the opti-
mal evolutionary rate based on the Shannon entropy to
solve the aforementioned problems. The results of the
proposed genetic algorithm with an evolutionary process
are compared with those of a randomized algorithm.
The randomized algorithm is a traditional method used
to obtain the tyre pitch sequence. It was confirmed that
the genetic algorithm as an optimal algorithm more
effectively reduces the peak value of the predicted tyre
air-pumping noise. The consistency and cohesion of the
obtained simulation results are also improved.
Image-based tyre air-pumping noise
analysis
In the paper, the image-based air-pumping model is
used to increase the efficiency of the noise prediction
process. It is employed to predict the tyre noise gener-
ated by the repeated compression and expansion of the
air cavity between the tyre pitch and the road surface,
as shown in Figure 2. Its main advantage is the
Kim et al. 1173

possibility of directly predicting the air-pumping noise where A is the space term related to the area and in this
with sufficient accuracy over a short time from a pixel- case A = 1 since unit area is used. Equation (6) is sub-
based tyre pitch image without a complicated numeri- stituted back into equation (5) to obtain
cal process. The generation mechanism of the air-
pumping noise is derived by applying the Euler equa- 1 ∂2 h i, j  r  a
p9 i, j ðr, tÞ = r0 t  ð7Þ
tion for a point monopole source which is modelled as 4pr ∂t2 c
a spherical emitter of a radius element with oscillations
where the height of the cube refers to the depth of the
much less than the radius. If the spherical emitter is
tyre pitch image at the pixel location (i, j), and where
centred at the origin, all the wave propagation para-
the portable grey-map format has 8 bits per pixel to
meters are functions of only the radial distance r and
express the information on the contrast of the pixel-
the time t. The gradient of the pressure is in the radial
based image. Thus, the depth of the tyre pitch length
direction; the fluid velocity vector can also be in the
can be expressed with 256 steps. If the radial distance
radial direction. The wave equation in the radial direc-
and the temperature are constant, as shown in Figure
tion is written as
2, the sound pressure wave emitted from the pixel loca-
  tion (i, j) of the tyre pitch length can be predicted easily
1 ∂2 p9 1 ∂ 2 ∂p9
= 2 r ð1Þ by considering only the second derivative of the height
c2 ∂t2 r ∂r ∂r
change in equation (7). The non-calibrated tyre air-
Here, the gradient of the pressure is in the radial direc- pumping noise, as the sum of the unit area, is calculated
tion, c is the sound of speed, p# is the sound pressure by scanning the tyre pitch image together with the lead-
and the general solution of equation (10) for the sound ing edge and time. This is influenced by the tyre pitch
pressure is given by image, the leading edge shape and the pitch sequence,
as shown in Figure 1. Among the three design para-
fðr  ctÞ
p9ðr, tÞ = ð2Þ meters, the first two parameters are the dependent
r design parameters, as the tyre pitch image is not the
where f can be any function. Assuming that the size of the modification target but the validation target in the pres-
monopole source with radius a is much smaller than the ent step and because the leading edge shape is mainly
wavelength of sound, the surface vibration of the spheri- affected by the design of the tyre body and road condi-
cal emitter related to the sound pressure is written as tions. On the other hand, the tyre pitch sequence,
because of its high level of freedom in minimizing the
a2 ∂ua  r  a tyre air-pumping noise, is considered as the indepen-
p9ðr, tÞ = r0 t ð3Þ
r ∂t c dent parameter. In this study, for tyre pitch optimiza-
where r0 is the density of air and ua is the radial velocity tion, the basic tyre pitch length given by the Nexen
at radius a. The change in the volume V is related to the Tyre Corporation of Korea is used to find the optimal
radial velocity on the surface of the spherical emitter, tyre pitch sequence for the reduction in the tyre air-
according to pumping noise, as shown in Figure 3. The basic tyre
pitch length is modified at intervals of 10% in the direc-
∂V ∂a tion of travel, and a total of five types of tyre pitch
= 4pa2 = 4pa2 ua ð4Þ
∂t ∂t model from 80% to 120% is used for the simulation
and equation (4) is substituted back into equation (3) to based on the genetic algorithm. These pitch sequences
obtain are arranged by using the random function. The effect
of the leading edge shape is not considered here owing
1 ∂2 V  r  a to the use of the leading edge in the form of a straight
p9ðr, tÞ = r0 2 t  ð5Þ
4pr ∂t c line. The harmonic spectra of these pitch sequences are
analysed and their peak value and r.m.s. value were
which means that the acoustic sound pressure emitted
used as the cost function in the genetic algorithm. The
by a point monopole source is proportional to the sec-
r.m.s. value and the peak value were chosen as the vari-
ond derivative of the volume change. Here, as shown in
ables of interest in the harmonic spectrum of the pre-
Figure 2, the volume of a cube is a function of the
dicted sound pressure for the tyre air-pumping noise.
length l, the width w and the height h. To connect the
theoretical concept of the air-pumping noise model to
the pixel-based image format at the pixel location (i, j), Genetic algorithm
the cross-section of the volume should be the unit area.
In addition, the length and the width of the cube are This section presents the novel approach for the appli-
constant values of the pixel. Thus, the second derivative cation of the genetic algorithm to the determination of
of the volume change is simply expressed via the height the optimal sequence of a tyre pitch for low air-
change of the cube. It is given as pumping noise. Figure 4 shows a flow chart of the
genetic algorithm used throughout this research. The
∂2 ∂2 hi, j processes of crossover, mutation and pitch optimiza-
2
Vi, j ðl, w, hÞ = A 2 ð6Þ
∂t ∂t tion are required. In each process, novel approaches to
1174
Figure 3. The effects of tyre pitch sequences on the harmonic spectrum of the tyre air-pumping noise and the selected evaluation
criteria.
FFT: fast Fourier transform; RMS: r.m.s.
Figure 4. A flow chart of the genetic algorithm.
improve the convergence speed and stability are
presented.
Encoding design for tyre pitch sequences
Binary encoding using 0 and 1 is used widely to express
the genetic information of chromosomes, as shown in
Figure 5(a). In the application of a genetic algorithm
using binary encoding, two types of problem can arise
because of the uncertainty of the correspondence
between the binary encoding structure and tyre pitches.
The first problem is related to the waste of space inside
the encoding structure. To express a tyre pitch, the
encoding structure requires at least the three binary
Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
Figure 5. Structural difference between (a) the binary
encoding model and (b) the proposed encoding model.
encoding elements, in keeping with the eight empty
spaces.
Since only five spaces can be used to correspond to a
tyre pitch if we use the binary structure, three spaces
are always left behind. Therefore, in order to remove
these three empty spaces, in this paper the encoding
scheme based on the decimal number format is pro-
posed. The method uses an integer value between 1 and
5, and only five spaces are used to correspond to a tyre
pitch. In this case there is no empty space like binary
encoding. The five spaces consist of one unit as shown
in Figure 5(b), which corresponds to one tyre pitch. In
order to express information in the five types of pitch as
shown in Figure 3, five units are necessary. One tyre
consists of 50 pitches (i.e. 50 units). In this paper, a
chromosome consists of 50 units and includes informa-
tion on 50 pitches. If we use a binary structure, 150
units would be necessary for the expression of the pitch
sequence of a tyre. A group consisting of 10 chromo-
somes is used for the genetic algorithm for optimization
of the pitch sequence. Ten chromosomes are repetitively
used in the evolution process of the genetic algorithm.
Therefore, the proposed encoding structure can
express a tyre pitch without a waste of space using only
a single encoding element. Thus, it is possible to reduce
the required matrix space size during the computational
process of the genetic algorithm, which naturally leads
to a reduction in the computational load and a
Kim et al.
Table 1. Comparison of the Shannon entropy and the entropy
waste between the binary encoding model and the proposed
encoding model.
Encoding type Shannon Entropy
entropy waste
Binary encoding (0,1) 3.0000 bits 0.9544 bits
Proposed encoding (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 2.3219 bits 0.0000 bits
reduction in the time needed for the repeated evolution-
ary cycles. The second problem is related to the absence
of immediacy in the application of the constraints.
During each evolutionary process, the two types of
constraint should be verified between the adjacent
pitches owing to the problems related to the durability
and the tyre air-pumping noise.
Because the proposed encoding scheme is based on
the decimal number format, without unnecessary ambi-
guity and complexity, the proposed encoding structure
makes it easy to consider the constraints between the
adjacent pitches in the application of the genetic algo-
rithm. The usefulness of the proposed encoding struc-
ture can also be described by comparing the uncertainty
of the correspondence between the two different encod-
ing structures quantitatively. In general, the uncertainty
is expressed via the theoretical concept of the Shannon
entropy, which is written as
X
N must stop. Moreover, if there is not sufficient informa-
E=  pi log2 (pi ) ð8Þ
i=1
Here, pi is the probability of each case. Table 1 shows
the Shannon entropy and the waste of space inside each
encoding structure. The uncertainty of the encoding
structure was reduced from 3 bits to 2.322 bits at a level
of 77.4% with the proposed encoding structure. Thus,
the waste of the Shannon entropy was reduced overall
from 0.9544 bits to 0 bits. From these results, it can be
Figure 6. Two-dimensional normal distribution using two types of evaluation criterion.
RMS: r.m.s.
1175
concluded that the proposed encoding structure is more
appropriate for expressing a tyre pitch than the binary
encoding structure is.
Design of a divergent objective function
A chromosome includes the information on the pitch
sequence in the circumference direction of a tyre. The
characteristic of the air-pumping noise is expressed in
terms of the peak and r.m.s. values of the harmonic
spectrum of each chromosome. In the evaluation pro-
cess, the noise quality of a group consisting of 10 chro-
mosomes is relatively evaluated. The group with good
noise quality is dominant and the opposite group is
recessive. In order to determine whether or not a group
is dominant throughout the genetic algorithm, the fit-
ness of chromosomes is evaluated from the peak and
r.m.s. values of each chromosome. The fitness of each
chromosome is used by comparing it with those of other
chromosomes. This has usually been calculated accord-
ing to a predefined convergent objective function in pre-
vious research.13–18 Therefore, the potential of the
optimization algorithm can be limited because of its
convergence characteristic as regards the predefined tar-
get. For example, even when the optimization algorithm
has a sufficiently high potential to optimize the tyre
pitch sequence, if the objective function has already
achieved the predefined target, the optimization process
tion about the optimal absolute criteria, it is difficult to
define the target and to evaluate the fitness of the chro-
mosomes properly. For these reasons, in this paper, a
divergent objective function is proposed. In the pro-
posed method, the fitness of each chromosome obtained
through the genetic algorithm is evaluated by compar-
ing the relative positions in the two-dimensional normal
distribution of the reference chromosomes, as shown in
Figure 6. This is calculated through the following
1176 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)

procedures. The r.m.s. value x1(k) and the peak value

x2(k) are chosen as the variables of interest in the har-
monic spectrum of the predicted tyre air-pumping noise.
If x1(k) and x2(k) are uncorrelated, the two-dimensional
normal distribution can be decomposed into two parts,
after which the probability density function of each
variable can be written as
 
pffiffiffiffiffiffi (xi  m i )2
p(xi ) = (si 2p)1 exp , i = 1, 2 ð9Þ
2s2i
where mi and si are the mean value and the standard
deviation respectively of the reference chromosomes.
These are calculated using the equations

1 XN Figure 7. Evaluation of each chromosome based on the

mi = xi (k) ð10Þ distance from the reference line in the two-dimensional normal
N k=1
distribution.
1 XN RMS: r.m.s.
s2i = ½xi (k)  mi  2 ð11Þ
N k=1

Here, x1(k) and x2(k) are the r.m.s. value and the peak
value respectively extracted from the number N of refer-
ence chromosomes. Each variable of the chromosomes
obtained through the genetic algorithm is normalized
according to
xi (k)  mi
zi (k) =
si
where zi refers to the normalized position of each chro-
mosome in the two-dimensional normal distribution,
and equation (12) is substituted back into equation (9)
to obtain
 2
pffiffiffiffiffiffi zi
p(zi ) = ( 2p)1 exp ð13Þ
2 potential of the optimization algorithm can be maxi-
Because chromosomes having a high value in the direc-
tion of the negative z1 axis and negative z2 axis are con-
sidered dominant objects, as shown in Figure 7, the
distance d(k) between a chromosome and the evalua-
tion reference z2(k) = 2z1(k) is defined as the sum of
the squared variables according to
Thus, the fitness of each chromosome can be inter-
preted as its opportunity to be selected on the roulette
wheel, as shown in Figure 8. Figure 9 shows the two-
dimensional normal distribution of the reference chro-
mosomes as generated using the randomized algorithm,
and Table 2 shows the statistical information. The ran-
domized algorithm is a traditional method used to
ð12Þ
obtain the tyre pitch sequence. An inverse proportional
relationship exists between the r.m.s. value and the
peak value, as shown in Figure 9. This relationship
reflects an acoustic–physical property of the spectrum
of the tyre air-pumping noise. It is difficult to improve
both of these simultaneously. Here, the main feature of
the proposed divergent objective function is that the
mized without any limitation, unlike the existing con-
vergent objective function, because the optimization
process started from the initial position in the form of

d2 (k) = ½z1 (k)  a(k)2 + ½z1 (k)  b(k)2 ð14Þ

where k is the integer number corresponding to one
chromosome among 10 chromosomes in the one group
and d(k) means one of the noise characteristics of one
chromosome The fitness of each chromosome is calcu-
lated on the basis of the roulette wheel principle19,20
and is a function of the normalized r.m.s. value and the
normalized peak value. According to the roulette wheel
principle, the total area corresponds to the summation
d2(k) of the variation in each chromosome, and the
probability P of each chromosome is expressed by
" #1
X
10
2
P= d (k) ½ d2 (1) d2 (2)   d2 (k)  d2 (10) 
k=1
Figure 8. The roulette wheel method for selecting a pair of
ð15Þ dominant chromosomes in the crossover process.
Kim et al.
Figure 9. The two-dimensional normal distribution of the
reference chromosomes generated by the randomized
algorithm.
RMS: r.m.s.
Table 2. The characteristics of the reference chromosomes
generated by the randomized algorithm in the two-dimensional
normal distribution.
Parameter type Mean Standard deviation
Parameter I (r.m.s. value) 0.3163 1.9276 3 104
Parameter II (peak value) 2.9102 0.4212
divergence without a predefined target. The dominant
chromosomes having a high level of the fitness have a
greater opportunity to be selected as the parent chro-
mosomes in an evolutionary process such as crossover
and mutation through the proposed genetic algorithm.
This evolutionary process is explained in the next two
sections.
Evolutionary process
Crossover and mutation are the core parts of the
genetic algorithm, as shown in Figure 10. First, the
exchange of the genetic information between a pair of
parent chromosomes is conducted through the cross-
over process. In general, the dominant chromosomes
having a good fitness have greater opportunities to be
selected as parent chromosomes. Therefore, the genetic
information of the recessive chromosomes cannot be
passed on to the offspring chromosomes and will be
eventually disappear in the process of evolutionary con-
vergence. Whether or not the genetic information is
exchanged between a pair of chromosomes is wholly
determined according to the crossover rate. In this
paper, five pairs of the parent chromosomes are selected
from among a total of 10 chromosomes, including repe-
tition. Unlike the crossover process, the change in the
genetic information caused by the mutation process
1177
Figure 10. A flow chart of the crossover process and the
mutation process with constraints between adjacent pitches.
does not come from the parent chromosomes. The
mutation process arises only at a randomly selected
position inside each chromosome as an unexpected
change. Therefore, in the process of the evolutionary
convergence, the diversity of the genetic information is
more sensitive to the mutation process than to the
crossover process. In the application of the genetic algo-
rithm, the selection of the evolutionary rate is an impor-
tant process. Here, the evolutionary rates need to be
selected carefully because an inverse proportional rela-
tionship exists between the reduction in the tyre air-
pumping noise and the computational load. Thus, the
optimal evolutionary rates were selected after identify-
ing the overall tendency obtained through the suitabil-
ity analysis for various combinations of parameters.
Additionally, according to the pitch sequence condition
between the adjacent tyre pitches, the changes in the
genetic information can cause problems in terms of the
durability and the noise. Therefore, as shown in Figure
10, two constraints were considered between the adja-
cent tyre pitches, as mentioned in the section on the
design of a divergent objective function. The first con-
straint suppresses the rapid change between the adja-
cent tyre pitches due to the durability, which was
limited within a maximum of two steps. The second
constraint prevents the continuous repetition of the
same tyre pitch for a reduction in the tonal noise com-
ponents in the tyre air-pumping noise, which is limited
within a maximum of two repetitions. After exchanging
1178
the genetic information between a pair of chromosomes
in the crossover process, if these two constraints are sat-
isfied, the evolutionary process continues to the muta-
tion process. However, if the offspring chromosomes
cannot satisfy the constraints, the change in the genetic
information will be restored to the previous state, after
which the crossover process will be repeated until its
constraints are satisfied. The same procedure is also
applied to the mutation process, as shown in Figure 10.
Exit conditions
Excessive repetitions of evolutionary cycles can cause
an abnormal convergence and increase the computa-
tional load. Therefore, the exit conditions of the evolu-
tionary process should be configured carefully, in
common with other optimization algorithms. In this
paper, as mentioned in the section on the design of a
divergent objective function, the diversity of the genetic
information among the chromosomes is used as a quan-
titative basis to determine when the evolutionary cycle
should be stopped. The Shannon entropy is used as the
objective indicator to express the proportional relation-
ship between the evolutionary convergence process and
the diversity of the genetic information and to express
the uncertainty of a system in various fields. Figure 11
shows the changes in the genetic information inside the
chromosomes between the initial state and the con-
verged state of the evolutionary cycles. In the initial
state, the Shannon entropy value is close to the maxi-
mum entropy value of 2.323 bits, as the five types of
tyre pitch have equal probabilities. This means that the
Figure 11. The relationship between the Shannon entropy and the diversity of genetic information in the process of evolutionary
convergence.
Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
diversity of the genetic information that the offspring
chromosomes can have also becomes maximized. In the
repeated evolutionary cycles, the offspring chromo-
somes, through the crossover process and the mutation
process, become similar to the specific chromosome
including the dominant genetic information. The diver-
sity and the Shannon entropy also gradually decrease
from their initial states in the direction towards zero. In
the converged state, the diversity of the genetic informa-
tion among the chromosomes no longer exists, and the
Shannon entropy also reaches a value of zero, which
means that the additional evolutionary cycle has no
meaning at this point. Based on the evolutionary con-
vergence process and its relationship with the Shannon
entropy, to prevent the excessive repetitions of evolu-
tionary cycles, two exit conditions were applied as
shown below. The first condition is as follows: if the
Shannon entropy value is less than a predefined zero
threshold, the evolutionary process converges to the
dominant chromosome because 10 chromosomes have
the same information about pitch sequences as each
other. The second condition is that, if the evolutionary
rates have an excessive value, the convergence process
becomes unstable and diverges, after which it will be
repeated continuously. Therefore, upon exceeding 100
times, the evolutionary cycle was stopped.
Selection of the optimal evolutionary
rates
The diversity of the genetic information inside the
chromosomes and the convergence characteristics are
Kim et al.
affected by the crossover rate and the mutation rate,
which are also closely related to the characteristics of
the tyre air-pumping noise. In general, although the
increase in the evolutionary rates provides more oppor-
tunities for reducing the tyre air-pumping noise, it can
also cause a greater computational load. For this rea-
son, to find the optimal evolutionary rates at which the
diversity of the genetic information and the computa-
tional load can be balanced, a suitability analysis was
conducted. Here, various combinations of parameters
were considered as described below. The crossover rate
was divided into 11 cases from 0% to 100% at intervals
of 10%, after which the mutation rate was divided into
21 cases from 0% to 20% at intervals of 1%. Therefore,
231 cases were considered in the process of the suitabil-
ity analysis. In each case, the genetic-algorithm-based
simulation was repeated 100 times to derive the general-
ity from the predicted tyre air-pumping noise in terms
of the probability. Figure 12(a) shows the relationship
between the two types of evolutionary rate and the
number N of cycles required for evolutionary conver-
gence. The overall tendency depends on the change in
Figure 12. The effects of the crossover rate and the mutation rate on the evolutionary convergence process: (a) the number
of required evolutionary cycles; (b) the number of reversal phenomenon in the Shannon entropy; (c) parameter I (r.m.s. value);
(d) parameter II (peak value).
1179
the mutation rate rather than on the change in the
crossover rate, and the number of cycles was increased
suddenly around a mutation rate of 14%. Figure 12(b)
shows the relationship between the two types of evolu-
tionary rate and the number of reversal phenomena in
the Shannon entropy, which is similar to the results
shown in Figure 12(a). The number of reversal phenom-
ena was suddenly increased around a mutation rate of
15%. Figure 12(c) and (d) shows the relationship
between the two types of evolutionary parameter and
the characteristics of the tyre air-pumping noise. The
r.m.s. value is influenced by the change in the crossover
rate, which is between 22.2s and 21.4s. On the other
hand, the peak value is influenced by the change in the
mutation rate rather than by the change in the cross-
over rate, which is between 21.8s and 21.4s. From
these simulation results, it was found that the r.m.s.
value and the peak value extracted from the predicted
tyre air-pumping noise are commonly minimized with
the increases in the two evolutionary rates. In particu-
lar, the overall tendency of the simulation results sensi-
tively depends on the changes in the mutation rate
1180
Figure 13. Suitability assessment for finding the optimal
evolutionary rates.
Table 3. The selected crossover rate and mutation rate for the
optimal evolutionary process.
Crossover Mutation
pc = 0.70 pm = 0.14
rather than on the changes in the crossover rate, as a
change in the genetic information in the mutation pro-
cess, unlike the crossover process, does not come from
the parent chromosomes as unexpected changes. Figure
13 shows a colour map of the global suitability index
for 231 cases. Here, the global suitability S is defined as
the mean value of the local suitability factors sˆi. It can
be written as
1X N
S= si
^ ð16Þ
N i=1
where N = 4 and the local suitability factors are
obtained by normalizing the four types of simulation
result, as shown in Figure 12. This is expressed as
si
s^i = for i = 1, 2, 3, 4 ð17Þ
ks i k
The optimal evolutionary rates were positioned around
the highest value of the global suitability. As listed in
Table 3, a crossover rate of 70% and a mutation rate
of 14% were chosen as the optimal evolutionary rates.
Simulation results
To compare with the results of the randomized algo-
rithm in terms of the probability, the genetic algorithm-
based simulation was repeated 1000 times with the
optimal evolutionary rates obtained through the suit-
ability analysis in the previous section, after which the
tyre pitch sequences of 1000 objects were obtained.
Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
Figure 14. Comparison of the two-dimensional normal
distribution generated by the different algorithms.
RMS: r.m.s.
Figure 14 shows the normal distributions of 1000
objects obtained using the randomized algorithm and
the genetic algorithm. The x axis is the normalized
r.m.s. value and the y axis denotes the normalized peak
value in the harmonic spectrum of the predicted tyre
air-pumping noise. Through the application of the
genetic algorithm, the normal distribution of 1000
objects was moved in the direction of the negative x
axis and the negative y axis and the cohesion increased.
From these results, it can be concluded that the genetic
algorithm is more effective at reducing the tyre air-
pumping noise and increasing the consistency of the
obtained simulation results than the randomized algo-
rithm is. However, the inverse proportional relation-
ship between two extracted features in the harmonic
spectrum still exists. Figure 15 shows the change in the
probability density in the normal distribution. As listed
in Tables 4 and 5, the central position of the normal
distribution was commonly moved from 0 to a value
around 2s on the normalized x axis. Figure 16 shows
the changes in the Shannon entropy during the process
of evolutionary convergence; this value decreased from
1.963 bits to 0 bits with increasing number of genera-
tions. When the five types of tyre pitch have equal
probabilities of being selected, as listed in Table 6, the
diversity of the genetic information inside the chromo-
somes can have a maximum Shannon entropy value of
2.329 bits. This implies that the initial chromosomes
that were generated using the randomized algorithm
have a high level of diversity close to the maximum
level of the Shannon entropy. During the repeated evo-
lutionary cycles, owing to the selected mutation rate,
the reversal phenomenon of the convergence curve
occurred at around generation 4. The diversity of the
genetic information was increased, which provides
more opportunities for reduction in the tyre air-
pumping noise. At generation 13, all the chromosomes
have the same genetic information, and the Shannon
Kim et al. 1181

Figure 15. Comparison of the probability density in the normal distribution: (a) parameter I (r.m.s. value); (b) parameter II (peak
value); (c) parameters I and II.
RMS: r.m.s.

Table 4. Comparison of the characteristics of the chromosomes generated using different algorithms in the two-dimensional
normal distribution.

Randomized algorithm Genetic algorithm

Mean Standard deviation Mean Standard deviation

Parameter I (r.m.s. value) 0.3163 1.9276 3 1024 0.3161 3.1476 3 1026

Parameter II (peak value) 2.9102 0.4212 2.5022 1.6168 3 1022

Table 5. Comparison of the probability densities in the two-dimensional normal distribution generated using different algorithms.

Parameter I Parameter II Parameters I and II

Randomized Genetic Randomized Genetic Randomized Genetic
algorithm algorithm algorithm algorithm algorithm algorithm

3s 0.0020 0.0000 0.0150 0.0000 0.0150 0.0000

2s 0.0510 0.0000 0.0630 0.0013 0.0630 0.0000
s 0.2760 0.0126 0.2020 0.0239 0.2020 0.0000
0 0.3760 0.2290 0.3710 0.1893 0.3710 0.0074
2s 0.2200 0.4580 0.3150 0.5729 0.3150 0.5443
22s 0.0670 0.2509 0.0320 0.2125 0.0320 0.4384
23s 0.0080 0.0466 0.0000 0.0001 0.0000 0.0099
1182
Figure 16. The change in the Shannon entropy in the process
of evolutionary convergence.
Table 6. The change in the Shannon entropy in the process of
the evolutionary convergence.
Generation 1 5 9 13
Shannon entropy 1.9634 0.8868 0.2228 0.0000
entropy inside the chromosomes also reaches a value
close to zero. Therefore, according to the predefined
exit conditions, the genetic-algorithm-based simulation
was stopped at generation 13. Figure 17 and Table 7
show the difference in the averaged tyre pitch spectra
between the initial chromosomes before the evolution-
ary process based on the random algorithm and the
converged chromosomes after the evolutionary process
based on the genetic algorithm. The r.m.s. value was
reduced from 0.3166 to 0.3159 at a level of 99.78%,
and the peak value was reduced from 3.4588 to 1.7239
at a level of 49.84%. In Figure 17, if the number of
pitches used for a tyre is 50 and they all have the same
Figure 17. Comparison of the tyre air-pumping noise spectra.
Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
Table 7. Comparison of the characteristics in the predicted
tyre air-pumping noise generated using different algorithms.
Algorithm type Parameter I Parameter II
(r.m.s. value) (peak value)
Randomized algorithm 0.3166 3.4588
Genetic algorithm 0.3159 (99.78%) 1.7239 (49.84%)
type of pitch, the peak value of the harmonic spectrum
should appear at around the fiftieth order. However, in
this paper, in order to express the pitch sequence of a
tyre with 50 pitches, five types of pitch model are used.
In the optimal condition optimized by the genetic algo-
rithm, ten pitches consist of one type of pitch model.
Therefore the peak value of the harmonic spectrum
appears at the tenth order. This means that the acoustic
energy with a single tone was scattered to avoid the
annoyance due to the tonal air-pumping noise. From
these results, it can be concluded that the genetic algo-
rithm is more effective at reducing the peak value than
the r.m.s. value in the harmonic spectrum of the pre-
dicted tyre air-pumping noise. Figure 18 shows the con-
vergence process in the two-dimensional normal
distribution during the process of the repeated evolu-
tionary cycles. Figure 19 shows the changes in the tyre
pitch sequences between the initial chromosomes and
the converged chromosomes. These results show the
relationship between the diversity of the genetic infor-
mation and the convergence process well.
Summary and conclusions
In this paper, a tyre pitch sequence was optimized using
an image-based air-pumping model and a genetic algo-
rithm in an effort to reduce the tyre air-pumping noise,
as the tyre air-pumping noise is strongly affected by
changes in the tyre pitch sequence compared with other
design parameters. First, the image-based air-pumping
model was used to predict the air-pumping noise
directly from a pixel-based tyre pitch length without a
complicated numerical process. This method is more
efficient than the method based on CFD or an experi-
mental method when the tyre pitch changes length fre-
quently. In the application of the genetic algorithm, a
binary encoding model using a value between 0 and 1
incurs two problems related to the complexity of the
existing encoding structure and the ambiguity in the
process of corresponding to the tyre pitch sequence.
Thus, a new encoding model using an integer between 1
and 5 was proposed. The proposed encoding model
makes it easier to consider the constraints between adja-
cent pitches without unnecessary ambiguity in terms of
the probability. Unlike the existing objective function
having convergence characteristics, the divergent objec-
tive function was suggested to evaluate the fitness of the
tyre pitch sequence generated by the randomized algo-
rithm or the genetic algorithm. The fitness of each
Kim et al.
Figure 18. The evolutionary convergence process of 10 chromosomes using the genetic algorithm before the evolutionary process
( ) and after the evolutionary process (O): (a) generation 1; (b) generation 5; (c) generation 9; (d) generation 13.
RMS: r.m.s.
Figure 19. The change in the combined pitch sequences in 10
chromosomes through the evolutionary convergence: (a) initial
chromosomes; (b) converged chromosomes.
chromosome was used as the decision reference to iden-
tify whether or not the tyre pitch sequence has the
dominant genetic information; this was calculated on
1183
the basis of the relative position in the two-dimensional
normal distribution. Here, the r.m.s. value and the peak
value were used as the variables of interest. The opti-
mized evolutionary rates in the genetic algorithm were
selected through a suitability analysis based on the rela-
tionship between the characteristics of the predicted
tyre air-pumping noise and the computational load.
The results of the suitability analysis showed that the
diversity of the genetic information among the chromo-
somes is more sensitive to the mutation process than to
the crossover process in the process of evolutionary
convergence. The diversity of the genetic information in
the chromosomes was used as a quantitative basis in
order to prevent the excessive repetition of the evolu-
tionary cycles, as calculated using the Shannon entropy.
The results obtained through the above process based
on the genetic algorithm were compared using a rando-
mized algorithm regarding the relative location in the
two-dimensional normal distribution. As a result, the
centre of the two-dimensional normal distribution was
moved in the direction of improvement and the cohe-
siveness of the normal distribution increased. The r.m.s.
value was reduced from 0.3166 to 0.3159 at the level of
1184
99.78%. The peak value was reduced from 3.4588 to
1.7239 at the level of 49.84%. From these results, it can
be concluded that the genetic algorithm is more effec-
tive at reducing the peak value than the r.m.s. value in
the harmonic spectrum of the predicted tyre air-
pumping noise; moreover, the proposed method has a
sufficient level of usefulness to serve as part of the pro-
cess of optimizing the tyre pitch sequence to reduce the
tyre air-pumping noise.
Funding
This work was supported by an Inha University
Research Grant and by the Mid-career Researcher
Program through a National Research Foundation
of Korea grant (grant no. 2010-0014260) funded by
the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology.
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