Vibration and Acoustic Characteristics of the Wheels with Doubly Embedded Damping Rings

The finite element method was employed for modal analysis of a damped wheel. The results were compared with the test results. The damped wheel equips two damping rings which are inserted into the grooves in both sides of its rim. In a semi-anechoic room the vibration and sound radiation characteristics of the wheel were tested by ball-dropping method. The results show that the damping rings have little influence on the modal frequencies of the wheel, but large influence on the modal damping. The sound level of the wheel with the damping rings in the freely suspended state can be reduced by 13.6 dB(A) and 10.4 dB(A) under the radial and axial excitations respectively in comparison with the standard wheels.