PROCEEDINGS of the23rd International Congress on Acoustics
9 to 13 September 2019 in Aachen, Germany

Identification of dominant noise sources in a diesel power group
Hasan HASSOUN1, 2*; Jaafar HALLAL2, 3; Mohammad HAMMOUD2, 4; Denis DUHAMEL1
1

Laboratoire Navier—UMR 8205 (Ecole des Ponts Paris Tech — IFSTTAR— CNRS), Cité Descartes —Champs-sur-Marne, Université Paris-Est, 77455 Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France

2

SDM Research Group, School of Engineering, International University of Beirut BIU, Beirut, Lebanon
34

Lebanese University, Faculty of Engineering, Beirut, Lebanon

School of Engineering, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, Lebanon

ABSTRACTThis paper aims to investigate and determine the primary causes of noise in a diesel engine group using
airborne acoustic measurements. The presented work is useful in defining and enhancing the equivalentsound level and sound pressure level (SPL) at a specific octave band. The work first describes the theoreticalorigins of sound and the benefits of the time-frequency domain for the analysis of airborne acoustic signals.
Then, an experimental approach was established to identify the primary sources and the contribution of
dominant sources in the total radiated noise upon examination of the measured data. Results showed thatengine exhaust noise is the main contributor of noise, especially in the low and mid frequency ranges due todifferent harmonic exciter orders.
Keywords: Acoustics, Diesel engine group, Harmonic analysis.

1. INTRODUCTION
Diesel engine group consists of an internal combustion engine (ICE) coupled to an alternator toprovide electric energy (Figure 1). It is one of the most significant energy users and noise polluters thatinfluence personal comfort as a result of some annoying radiated noise. Although the human range ofhearing frequencies is between 20 and 20,000 Hz, there is considerable variation between individuals
especially at high frequencies. With the A-weighting function, the sound level is less sensitive to very
low and very high frequencies. In this paper, the established measurements will be presented as dB(A)scale considering human hearing. Although sound and absorption materials are practically applied toreduce noise, these passive controls are beneficial at mid and high frequencies, but it is inefficient atlow rates (1,2). Thus, reducing low-frequency noise presents a particular challenge as well as thedifficulties in attenuating low-frequency noise. Previous researches emphasis on radiated noise fromvalves, piston slap, injectors and alternators in which their emitted sound concentrated at the mid andhigh-frequency ranges (3-7). The frequency ranges of the primary noise sources in diesel engine groupdepend not only on the structure properties (stiffness, mass, damping) but also on the operating spe ed(excitation frequencies). Analyzing of airborne acoustic signals using time -frequency domain andacoustic spectrum present proper tools for sound analysis because of its rich information contained
within the acoustic waveform, although of the difficulties presented in the extraction of features. Thisdifficulty is mainly due to the superposition of numerous frequency components introduced inside theacoustic spectrum. Several existing reviews on condition monitoring and fault diagnosis using
vibro-acoustic signals of internal combustion engines were studied (8,9,10).
The applied methodology in the presented work consists first of specifying the dominant frequency
range of diesel group noise by analyzing of airborne acoustic measurements. Then, the contri bution of
the primary noise sources is identified at each octave frequency band. By recovering the spikes in thespecified band, the diesel group noise can be reduced effectively by reducing the sound pressure levelat identified dominant peaks.
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Corresponding author: hasan.hassoun@enpc.fr

This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the airborne acoustic modelling of diesel
engine group. Section 3 presents the experimental approach to determine the main contributor to theoverall noise followed by a discussion of the results. Finally, section 4 draws the conclusions.

Figure 1 – Components of a diesel engine group (11)

2. AIRBORNE ACOUSTIC MODELING OF DIESEL ENGINE GROUP
The generation of noise in the diesel engine group can be described as mechanical, combustion,aerodynamic and electromagnetic noise due to various types of excitation forces. Emitted sound can beclassified as structure-borne, airborne or a mix thereof. In airborne transmission, the acoustic wave
directly transferred to the receiver through an air medium. While in structure -borne transmission, theacoustic source shifted through different parts before being transmitted to the receiver. The significant
sources of noise and vibration are due to mechanical and combustion forces. These forces are mainly
due to the variable gas pressure inside the cylinder, and to the inertial force from moving parts, such as
connecting rod, piston, rotor and crankshaft which lead to unbalanced forces. These forces occur overa frequency range and are transmitted to the external surface leading to structural vibrations and noiseradiation as a result of the excitation forces as shown in Table 1.
Table 1 – Vibration and Acoustic mechanism in a diesel engine group
Excitation source
Combustion excitation

Mechanical excitation
Magnetic excitation

Force applied to structure

Vibration transmission

Noise emitter (Fig. 2)

Rapid rate of change in

Cylinder head, piston,

Manifolds covers,

cylinder pressure (pulses)

connecting mechanisms

ICE block

Mechanical impact, piston

Piston connections,

ICE block sump,slap, bearings, fuel pumpcylinder walls, stator

timing cover

Magnetic force, Torque ripple

Stator yokeStator surface

Figure 2 – Engine components

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Combustion noise is due to the rapid rate of cylinder pressure variation which causes the vibrationof the engine structure. Based on the cylinder pressure spectrum and the superposition principle, thecylinder pressure is the sum of the individual effects of the series of harmonics with different
frequencies and amplitudes. Mechanical noise referred to as impact -induced noise results fromrotating components and inertial forces. Piston slap is one of the significant mechanical noise resulting
from the impact of the piston with cylinder walls as the piston move from Top Dead Center (TDC) toBottom Dead Center (BDC). Fuel pump, bearing, valves, injector needle are other sources ofmechanical noise. Electromagnetic noise is due to the magnetic excitation in the alternator part.
Aerodynamic noise is produced from the intake, fan and exhaust system. When inlet and exhaust
valves close, the sound is generated in which it can be identified using the time -frequency domain of
the air-borne signals.
2.1 Harmonic Exciter Orders
The torque function (M (α)) resulting from the excited tangential force (F t) of the gas and inertia
forces can be expanded into harmonic series in terms of the crank angle (α) as shown in Figure 3. As
the combustion event occurs around TDC, the engine crankshaft is subjected to twist leading to a
torsional vibration at harmonic frequencies. Controlling these harmonics is essential to minimize theload on bearings and other components, thus reducing induced noise. The frequencies (f ) of theharmonics orders (i) vary linearly to the crankshaft-rotor speed (N) as shown in equation 1.
f ( Hz )iN rpm
60(1)Figure 3 – Harmonic components of the tangential force (Ft) in four-stroke reciprocating piston engine
Due to the periodic properties of the torque function M (α), it can be represented as Fourier series:
M Dff
§ 2S·
§ 2S·M k  2¦ An cos¨
nD ¸  2¦ Bn sin ¨nD ¸TT
©
¹
©
¹n 1
n 1

(2)

Where M k represents the mean torque, An and Bn are coefficients calculated as below:
An1§ 2S·M D cos¨nD ¸dD³T 0© T¹(3)Bn1§ 2S·M D sin ¨nD ¸dD³T 0© T¹(4)TT

For a 4-stroke engine, each of the four distinct piston strokes takes 180º, thus the overall engine
cycle is T=4ᴨ(720º).Substituting this last value into equations 3 and 4, the components of cosine and4722

sine functions will be nα/2, where i=n/2 is the nth order of the developed series representing thenumber of harmonic oscillations during a whole engine cycle. Thus, in a 4-stroke engine, half orders
are present, for example, n=1, 2, 3, 4 leading to i=0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.
A 3-cylinders 4-stroke engine exhibits orders 1.5 (Number of cylinder/2), 3(2×1.5), 4.5(3×1.5)...asmajor harmonic orders while 0.5, 2, 3.5… are considered as minor orders. The amplitude of vibrationand hence induced noise of the crankshaft vary according to the harmonic order, these variables
include the engine order, number of cylinders, crankshaft design and load. Figure 4 shows an exampleof the main and minor orders of a three-cylinder diesel engine group measured while varying theengine speed. The observed frequencies at each peak can be obtained by multiplying the harmonicorder number with the fundamental frequency (N(rpm)/60).

Figure 4 – Acoustic waveform of a 3-cylinder at different rotational speeds till 150 Hz
2.2 Airborne Acoustics Signal Processing
Fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique is practical and useful for analyzing periodical signals.
This tool divides signal overtime into frequency components. That is, FFT of the function x(t) is thefunction x(f ) where:fx( f )³ x(t ) u e

iwtdt(5)fAlthough FFT is widely used, its limitations are in evaluating the time-dependent behavior ofelements in frequency. Time-frequency domain such as spectrogram is well suited for non-stationary
signals during the engine speed variation to show the time variation of the signal’s characteristicfrequencies. The spectrogram (SP) is established to show the visual representation of the spectrum of
low frequencies inside the sound signal as time varies. This tool corresponds to computing the squareof the Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) of the signal x(t) for a window with w, where:
SPSTFT (W , w)

2f

2

iwt
³ x(t )w(t  W )e dt

(6)

f

3. EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Experimental Measurements
The experiment was carried out using a three cylinder, four stroke diesel engine coupled to afour-pole alternator and installed on a test rig. Noise measurements were carried out using one STO -2
pressure transducer microphone. Firstly, the measured signal at 1m from the engine side operating at
1550 rpm steady state acquired for 25 seconds with a sampling frequency of 44100Hz. FFT wasapplied to the recorded noise signal to establish the acoustic spectrum (SPL-Frequency) using MatLabas shown in Figure 5. Secondly, the SPL at 1/1 octave frequency band was measured first at the exhaust
manifold (Figure 2) followed for the structurally radiated noise to identify the contribution of eachnoise source as shown in Figure 6.

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Figure 5 – Acoustic waveform at no electrical load and 1550 rpm for a 3-cylinder diesel group

Figure 6 – SPL of dominant sources at 1/1 octave frequency bands

Figure 7 – Time-Frequency plot of exhaust noise at the 125 Hz octave band
3.2 Discussion
In the above acoustic spectrum of Figure 5, it is observed that the dominant heard noise occurs at
low and mid frequency range mainly at the 1000Hz octave band, in which the SPL starts to decrease
after this band. Thus, to improve the equivalent sound level, it is essential first to reduce the SPL at thisoctave band. In the low-frequency range of Figure 5 (up to 200 Hz), several peaks can be observed,
called harmonic orders. The harmonic frequencies of these orders result from multiplying theharmonious order (i) with the fundamental frequency as established in section 2.1. This spectrum
depends on the engine speed, i.e., if the crank speed increases, the rates of the spikes shift to the higher
frequencies. Furthermore, the amplitude is highly dependent on the combustion condition and thelocation of the microphone. In this case, the running speed is 1550 rpm; thus, the first order frequency
is 25.83Hz (1550 rpm/60). Moreover, it can be observed that SPL at main exciter orders such as firing
frequency (order 1.5) and its harmonic (orders 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9…) is higher than that of the minor orders(0.5, 1, 2, 2.5…).

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Figure 6 shows the contribution of primary noise sources to the overall group SPL in terms of 1/1
octave frequency band. It’s noticed that the exhaust noise contributes mainly at 1000Hz octave band.
Thus, reducing the SPL from the exhaust noise at this octave band can significantly improve theequivalent sound level. Besides, exhaust noise is the main contributor of noise till 4000Hz octave band.
After this band, structurally radiated noise, which is composed of radiated noise from different
components (Engine block, cylinder head, oil pan, timing covers, stator wall) contr ibutes mainly. At
low-frequency range, to reduce the SPL at a specific band, e.g., 125Hz octave band, it is essential to
improve the exhaust noise which adds primarily to this band. Figure 7 shows the dominant frequencies
in the 125Hz octave band of the exhaust noise. Thus, reducing noise at these harmonic frequencies(orders 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5) will significantly improve the exhaust noise and hence the equivalentsound level at this specific band. More features can be extracted from Figure 7 which, corresponds tothe steady state of emitted noise at observed orders independent on time while measuring at a constant
speed (1550 rpm).

4. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the identification of the source of noise in a 3-cylinder diesel engine group has beenestablished. Experiments were conducted based on the analysis of airborne acoustic measurements toidentify the main contributor to the overall SPL at different octave bands. The developed work isuseful in defining and enhancing the equivalent sound level and SPL at a specific octave band.
Experimentally, and at low-frequency range, it was shown that the engine contributes to the overall
SPL more than the alternator in which the engine crankshaft is subjected to torsional vibration andinduced noise at the investigated exciter harmonic orders. The dominant heard sound from the diesel
engine group is mainly at 1000Hz octave band in which the SPL decreases after this band. This latterband is dominated by exhaust noise, thus reducing the SPL at this band will sign ificantly improve theequivalent sound level of the diesel group. Moreover, exhaust noise is the main contributor to theoverall sound level below 4000Hz octave band. Therefore, to effectively control group noise below
4000Hz octave band, exhaust noise has to be controlled well.

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