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The article presents a systematic investigation of the capabilities of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for modeling the propagation of acoustic waves. The study considers the problem of wave propagation from a point harmonic source in an unbounded domain, both in a quiescent medium (Mach number $M=0$) and in the presence of a uniform mean flow ($M=0.2$). Both scenarios admit analytical solutions within the framework of linear acoustics, allowing for a quantitative assessment of the accuracy of the numerical method.

The numerical implementation employs the two-dimensional D2Q9 velocity model and the Bhatnagar – Gross – Krook (BGK) collision operator. The oscillatory source is modeled using Gou’s scheme, while spurious high-order moment noise generated by the source is suppressed via a regularization procedure applied to the distribution functions. To minimize wave reflections from the boundaries of the computational domain, a hybrid approach is used, combining characteristic boundary conditions based on Riemann invariants with perfectly matched layers (PML) featuring a parabolic damping profile.

A detailed analysis is conducted to assess the influence of computational parameters on the accuracy of the method. The dependence of the error on the PML thickness ($L_{\text{PML}}^{}$) and the maximum damping coefficient ($\sigma_{\max}^{}$), the dimensionless source amplitude ($Q'_0$), and the grid resolution is thoroughly examined. The results demonstrate that the LBM is suitable for simulating acoustic wave propagation and exhibits second-order accuracy. It is shown that achieving high accuracy (relative pressure error below $1\,\%$) requires a spatial resolution of at least $20$ grid points per wavelength ($\lambda$). The minimal effective PML parameters ensuring negligible boundary reflections are identified as $\sigma_{\max}^{}\geqslant 0.02$ and $L_{\text{PML}}^{} \geqslant 2\lambda$. Additionally, it is shown that for source amplitudes $Q_0' \geqslant 0.1$, nonlinear effects become significant compared to other sources of error.

Road noise is one of the key issues in maintaining high environmental standards. At speeds between 50 and 120 km/h, tires are the main source of noise generated by a moving vehicle. It is well known that either the interaction between the tire tread and the road surface or some internal dynamic effects are responsible for tire noise and vibration. This paper discusses the application of a new method for modelling the generation and propagation of sound during tire motion, based on the application of the so-called acoustic-vortex decomposition. Currently, the application of the Lighthill equation and the aeroacoustics analogy are the main approaches used to model tire noise. The aeroacoustics analogy, in solving the problem of separating acoustic and vortex (pseudo-sound) modes of vibration, is not a mathematically rigorous formulation for deriving the source (righthand side) of the acoustic wave equation. In the development of the acoustic-vortex decomposition method, a mathematically rigorous transformation of the equations of motion of a compressible medium is performed to obtain an inhomogeneous wave equation with respect to static enthalpy pulsations with a source term that de-pends on the velocity field of the vortex mode. In this case, the near-field pressure fluctuations are the sum of acoustic fluctuations and pseudo-sound. Thus, the acoustic-vortex decomposition method allows to adequately modeling the acoustic field and the dynamic loads that generate tire vibration, providing a complete solution to the problem of modelling tire noise, which is the result of its turbulent flow with the generation of vortex sound, as well as the dynamic loads and noise emission due to tire vibration. The method is first implemented and test-ed in the FlowVision software package. The results obtained with FlowVision are compared with those obtained with the LMS Virtual.Lab Acoustics package and a number of differences in the acoustic field are highlighted.