Owing to the continuous development of the automobile industry, increasingly stringent performance requirements for noise, vibration, and harshness of automobiles are being presented. Interior noise control in high-speed vehicles has not been adequately addressed, owing to the complex mechanism of noise generation. As simulations performed previously focused on vehicle wind noise and tyre noise cannot adequately predict the effect on passenger ear-side noise, these issues are investigated in this study. Their effects on passengers are investigated using transfer path analysis. An anti-noise operational transfer path analysis is proposed to study noise generated in high-speed vehicles. The established anti-noise operational transfer path analysis model can eliminate crosstalks between noise source signals of different transmission paths. The model is validated by comparing the measured and calculated values of the anti-noise operational transfer path analysis model. The coherence of the input noise signal and the ear-side noise signal of the passenger is assessed using coherence analysis. By calculating and categorising the contributions of different noise sources in different locations and types, the main noise sources affecting passenger comfort are determined. The result indicates that the main noise sources affecting the passenger’s ear-side noise change from engine noise to left-A wind noise and tyre radiation noise with increasing vehicle speed, in which the proportion also increase. The proposed anti-noise operational transfer path analysis is suitable for the interior-noise analysis of high-speed vehicles, and this study may serve as a reference for future studies regarding active and passive noise control in high-speed vehicles.

In this paper, the authors proposed a class of hierarchical square honeycomb metamaterials (HSHMs) with low-frequency broad bandgaps (BGs) and flat energy band characteristics. The mechanical model of the square honeycomb structure and the in-plane mode lattice dynamics model of the HSHMs are presented. The formation mechanism of BGs and flat energy band characteristics are obtained by combining the band structure with transmission spectra, which was calculated using the finite-element method. The numerical results show that the HSHM structure has multiple BGs below 100 Hz, and the transmission spectra are in accordance with the band structure calculations. Additionally, the effects of the scatterer shape and the honeycomb parameters of the elastic element on the BGs are further analyzed and discussed. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that the BGs can be modulated in a wider and lower frequency range by changing the scale factor, the length-to-width ratio of the honeycomb side beam, and layer dislocation. These research results provide a novel structure for the design and application of acoustic metamaterials.

Active noise control (ANC) is used to reduce undesirable noise, particularly at low frequencies. There are many algorithms based on the least mean square (LMS) algorithm, such as the filtered-x LMS (FxLMS) algorithm, which have been widely used for ANC systems. However, the LMS algorithm cannot balance convergence speed and steady-state error due to the fixed step size and tap length. Accordingly, in this article, two improved LMS algorithms, namely, the iterative variable step-size LMS (IVS-LMS) and the variable tap-length LMS (VT-LMS), are proposed for active vehicle interior noise control. The interior noises of a sample vehicle are measured and thereby their frequency characteristics. Results show that the sound energy of noise is concentrated within a low-frequency range below 1000 Hz. The classical LMS, IVS-LMS and VT-LMS algorithms are applied to the measured noise signals. Results further suggest that the IVS-LMS and VT-LMS algorithms can better improve algorithmic performance for convergence speed and steady-state error compared with the classical LMS. The proposed algorithms could potentially be incorporated into other LMS-based algorithms (like the FxLMS) used in ANC systems for improving the ride comfort of a vehicle.

The subjective and objective method of sound quality evaluation (SQE) in respect of subway interior noise is discussed in this paper. A sample subway of Shanghai Metro Line 9 is considered. The noise signals at four locations and two sets of dummy head heights are measured under three common working conditions of the subway. The measured noises are subjectively evaluated for annoyance values by using the grouped pair-comparison method. Several objective psychoacoustical parameters of these samples are calculated. Accordingly, a mathematical model of sound annoyance is established by using the correlation analysis and multi-dimensional linear regression method, in which the loudness, sharpness, etc., are taken as the variables. The experimental verifications show that there has a strong correlation between the model predicted and subjectively evaluated results, which suggest a good prediction accuracy of the newly presented model.