ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF RETREADED TIRES

Regulations R(EC)661/2009 and R(EC)1222/2009 established environmental requirements for new tires and their labeling, not applicable in principle to retreaded tires. However, in anticipation of future revisions, different studies were promoted, mainly oriented to truck tires, the main market for retreading. Two lines of research were opened at UMH, focused respectively on the study of rolling resistance and rolling noise.

Multi-Source Coupling Based Analysis of the Acoustic Radiation Characteristics of the Wheel–Rail Region of High-Speed Railways

Based on elastic mechanics, the fluid–structure coupling theory and the finite element method, a high-speed railway wheel-rail rolling-aerodynamic noise model is established to realize the combined simulation and prediction of the vibrations, rolling noise and aerodynamic noise in wheel-rail systems. The field test data of the Beijing–Shenyang line are considered to verify the model reliability. In addition, the directivity of each sound source at different frequencies is analyzed. Based on this analysis, noise reduction measures are proposed. At a low frequency of 300 Hz, the wheel-rail area mainly contributes to the aerodynamic noise, and as the frequency increases, the wheel-rail rolling noise becomes dominant. When the frequency is less than 1000 Hz, the radiated noise fluctuates around the cylindrical surface, and the directivity of the sound is ambiguous. When the frequency is in the middle- and high-frequency bands, exceeding 1000 Hz, both the rolling and total noise exhibit a notable directivity in the directions of 20–30° and 70–90°, and thus, noise reduction measures can be implemented in these directions.

Accurate and controled vehicle pass-by noise emission quantification in real life traffic

Noise emission from individual vehicle largely contributes to city pollution and has serious health impact. The standards towards vehicle manufactures consists in pass-by testing with specific acceleration conditions which are not representative of all real driving. For the 2015/996 EU directive, the vehicle source model is inspired of the preceding pass-by standard with derived data represented the propulsion and rolling noise sources. Anyhow, those sources are underestimated due to driving behavior, aged and modified vehicle, road surface, meteorological conditions... The true data collection of vehicle pass-by would be interesting. Moreover, some of the countries are reflecting on how to fight against those extremely noisy vehicle exceeding noise limit with efficient monitoring systems. This paper presents an innovative tool able to detect, identify and quantify the noise emission of individual pass-by vehicle in real life traffic. It is based on the combination of array and video processing. Compared to the state of the art and thanks to MEMs technology, the system is optimized and designed to quantify the individual noise vehicle emission regarding standard with controlled measurement and accurate processing. If the conditions are not respected to properly qualify the pass-by regarding the system limits, the data are ignored. It aims at constructing large and accurate database useful to determine average noise levels and/or acceptable noise limits per vehicle category.

Monitoring trends in road surface impact on rolling noise emissions

Road surfaces degrade over time due to heavy traffic and weather conditions, which negatively influences both driving comfort and acoustic properties. In addition, the lifetime of a road surface can be increased by performing cost-effective incremental maintenance and this maintenance becomes more expensive when the damages are more severe (cracks, potholes). Current methods such as CPX are performed in a standardized way (using designated equipment and tightly controlled measurement conditions), however budget constraints limit frequent monitoring of surfaces. Therefore, continuous monitoring using ordinary passenger vehicles could be helpful to observe trends in rolling noise emissions and road evenness. Hence, we deployed designated sensor boxes in a number of vehicles that are on the road for other purposes. In addition, advances in calibration of different devices using de-noising autoencoders alleviate the effect of various measurement conditions such as driving speed, braking, accelerating, and temperature. As our innovative methodology has now been on the road for several years, trend analysis becomes possible.

Identification of the Major Noise Energy Sources in Rail Vehicles Moving at a Speed of 200 km/h

In this work, the problematic identification of the main sources of noise occurring from the exploitation of railway vehicles moving at a speed of 200 km/h were analyzed. Within the conducted experimental research, the testing fields were appointed, measurement apparatus selected, and a methodology for conducting measurements was defined, including the assessment of noise on a curve and straight track for electric multiple units of the so-called Pendolino, an Alstom type ETR610 series ED25 train. The measurements were made using a microphone camera Bionic S-112 at a distance of 22 m from the track axis. As a result of the conducted experimental research, it was indicated that the noise resulting from vibrations arising at the wheel-rail contact (rolling noise) was the dominant source of sound.

Preliminary rolling noise measurements toward the design of a standard rolling noise device

The tapping machine has long existed as the primary standard method for measuring the performance of floors in buildings in response to structure-borne noise. However, other sources of structure-borne noise exist. One of these is rolling noise: such as a trolley rolling across the floor in an indoor building environment. Because the sound profile of indoor rolling noise is substantially different than that of impact noise, the techniques developed to reduce the latter may not necessarily be effective at reducing the former. To this end, a means of repeatably measuring indoor rolling noise is needed. Here the results of a study on indoor rolling noise are presented, identifying the various characteristics of this type of excitation which until now have been left unexplored. The proposal for a standard rolling device is also put forth: a machine which may be capable of characterizing a floor’s performance with regards to indoor rolling noise. A series of indoor rolling noise tests were conducted in order to characterize the range of sound profiles that various indoor rolling items are capable of producing, as well as identify how the different characteristics govern the shape of the sound profile produced. Just as the standard tapping machine assesses a floor’s performance in response to impact noise, a standard rolling machine may assess a floor’s performance in response to rolling noise.