An experimental study of interior vehicle roughness noise from disc brake systems

An experimental study of the friction-induced noise generated by the disc brake system of a passenger car is presented. In particular, the brake noise usually referred to as wire brush or roughness noise is studied. This is, in terms of frequency spectral content a broadband phenomenon, resulting from the interaction of multiple asperities in the tribological contact. A new experimental method for measurements of disc brake roughness noise is proposed, and is used in a lab environment where the vehicle speed and the brake pressure are accurately controlled. The aim is to study the influence of vehicle speed and brake pressure on the roughness noise inside the vehicle. It is shown for the specific test case that the transmission from the source to the interior is a vibro-acoustic structure-borne phenomenon. Measurements show that there is a, as expected, strong correlation between increased interior noise and both increased vehicle speed and brake pressure.