ENGINEERS WORK TO MAKE QUIETER TIRES

ENGINEERS WORK TO MAKE QUIETER TIRES



West Lafayette, Ind. (Wireless Flash) – You can’t reinvent the wheel, but you can make it quieter. That’s what engineers at Purdue University are trying to do by redesigning tires so they produce less sound vibration. According to professor Stuart Bolton, engineers are working with theoretical computer models to identify which parts of the tire vibrate the most and cause the most noise. Once that’s been isolated, they hope to minimize the noise by creating an ideal model that vibrates less. The university won’t create the tire themselves. Instead the results will be given to automobile makers and tire manufacturers including Ford, Michelin and Goodyear, who are funding the study.

Wed 08-08-01