INVESTIGATION OF AUTOMOTIVE CREEP GROAN NOISE WITH A DISTRIBUTED-SOURCE EXCITATION TECHNIQUE

Creep groan is a high-intensity, low-frequency noise and vibration problem that affects road vehicles at very low speeds. It usually persists for short periods of time, but a “skilled” driver can deliberately make it last several seconds by tuning the force exerted on the brake pedal. The original cause is considered to be a self-induced vibration of the brake components, due to the friction material characteristics that make the system prone to a stick–slip behaviour. No clear evidence upon the creep groan and how it is perceived inside the passenger cockpit has yet been analyzed in the literature and no formal methods are yet available for its analysis. The present study focuses on the transmission of the vibration from the brake component regions to the ears of the vehicle occupants. Characterization of the calliper acceleration and noise inside the cockpit are described for a test vehicle. Distributed-source noise excitation via the standard vehicle hi-fi system is proposed as a practical but less rigorous particular application of the exact reciprocity method. Virtual groan (in which sound power is delivered by means of a loudspeaker) dismisses the airbone path and shows that the phenomenon is structure-borne. On the examined vehicle, front brakes contribute more strongly than rear. Groan frequency close to cavity acoustic resonance constitutes the worst case scenario, and has to be avoided.