Acoustic simulation of a steering sensor for geometric design optimization

Abstract

This work is focused on the acoustic simulation of a steering wheel sensor for geometric design optimization. The sensor is located under the steering wheel inside the vehicle cabin, which may cause noise audible by the passengers and the driver. A common way of noise reduction from mechanical components is changing their structural rigidity. Similarly, the design of the sensor in this work was optimized by the introduction of snap-joint assemblies. Numerical analysis was done to identify the location of the new snap-joints in order to increase the structural rigidity of the assembly. Additionally, the new design and the behavior of the sensor with snap-joints was numerically simulated. The feedback from numerical studies was imported into acoustic simulations in order to assess the noise level of the proposed design as compared to the initial design.