Project Code: D09

MED411
Structural, Acoustic & Vibro-acoustic analysis of cavities for interior noise prediction
Roop Kumar 2007ME10522 Sooraj Sinha 2007ME10530

Supervisor : Dr. S.V. Modak

Examiner: Prof K. Gupta

Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

April, 2011

CERTIFICATE

It is hereby certify that this project report entitled, Structural, Acoustic and Vibroacoustic analysis of cavities for interior noise prediction, is an original work done by Sooraj Sinha (2007ME10530) and Roop Kumar (2007ME10522), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, under the supervision of Dr S.V.Modak . This work has not been submitted in part or full to this or any other university for a degree or diploma course.

Dr. S.V. Modak (Supervisor) Indian Institute of technology Hauz khas, New Delhi April, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We wish to express our sincere thanks to Prof. S.V. Modak and Prof. K. Gupta for their constant guidance, support and encouragement, without which successful completion of this project would not have been possible. We have learnt many new concepts and methodologies during the course of our project, and the experience has been academically highly enriching. We would also like to thank Ph.D. scholar Mr Deepak Nehte for his valuable inputs during the project.

Roop Kumar (2007ME10522)

Sooraj Sinha (2007ME10530)

ii

ABSTRACT
This project deals with Natural frequency analysis of structure, acoustic medium and then a coupled system. Then a steady state response of the coupled system is carried out to determine the noise levels at different frequencies of applied harmonic force. After that inclusion of impedance and absorption is done. These analyses are first done on a simple model of a box and then a more realistic model of the car is used to predict the sound levels inside the car. The analysis of car is sequentially carried out on more and more complex models. The variations in the car models include change in the material in the different parts of the car and inclusion of seats and passengers in the car. However, in spite of the large effort that goes into building these models and the computational time and the cost spent, there are some inherent difficulties that are faced in obtaining accurate predictions using these vibroacoustic models. The structure of the car and the other passenger vehicles is quite complex due to several spot-welds, joints, damping and the sheer difficulty in the modelling of the complex geometry involving sheet metal and the stiffeners. These difficulties in the modelling of the structural domain make the coupled model less reliable for interior noise prediction. In-spite of these difficulties our aim of the project is to start modelling with the very simplified assumptions and then bringing in the complexities one by one. Keywords: FEM, noise, structure, acoustic, coupling

iii

Table of Contents
CERTIFICATE ................................................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGMENT................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... iii Nomenclature & Abbreviations ................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 Chapter 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Literature Review...................................................................................... 2

Vibrations ......................................................................................................... 2 Sound Pressure ................................................................................................. 2 Finite Element Method ..................................................................................... 3 Shell Element ............................................................................................ 3 Tetrahedral Element .................................................................................. 4 Hexahedral Element .................................................................................. 4

2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

Acoustic coupling with structural vibrations in a car ....................................... 4 Problem Statement ........................................................................................... 5 Gantt Chart ....................................................................................................... 5 Structural, Acoustic & Vibro-acoustic Analysis of a rectangular box

Chapter 3

cavity with a plate (Work done in Project Part 1) ........................................................... 6 3.1 3.2 3.3 Analysis of Plate............................................................................................... 6 Analysis of cavity ............................................................................................. 7 Vibro-Acoustic Coupled Response of Cavity with Plate ................................. 8 Mode Shapes of coupling.......................................................................... 9 Comparison of coupled and uncoupled natural response ....................... 11 Forced Response ..................................................................................... 13 Inclusion of Acoustic Impedance in the Box Cavity Model ................... 17 Modelling of Structure of a car and its Cavity ........................................ 23

3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 5.1 5.2

Structural model ............................................................................................. 23 Cavity ............................................................................................................. 26 iv

Chapter 6 6.1 6.2

Natural Frequency Analysis of Structure and Cavity ............................. 27

Structural Natural Frequency Analysis .......................................................... 27 Acoustic Natural Frequency Analysis ............................................................ 29 Coupled Analysis .................................................................................... 31

Chapter 7 7.1 7.2

Coupled Natural Frequency Analysis ............................................................ 31 Forced response .............................................................................................. 35 Coupled Analysis of Complex Car Models ............................................ 37

Chapter 8 8.1

Car with chairs ............................................................................................... 37 Analysis................................................................................................... 39 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 44

8.1.1 Chapter 9 9.1

Scope for future work ..................................................................................... 45

References ..................................................................................................................... 46

List of Figures
Figure 2.1 standing waves............................................................................................... 2 Figure 2.2 Shell elements ................................................................................................ 3 Figure 2.3 Tetrahedral element ....................................................................................... 4 Figure 2.4 Octahedral element ........................................................................................ 4 Figure 3.1 variation of modal frequencies with mode numbers and thickness ............... 6 Figure 3.2 Structural mode shapes .................................................................................. 7 Figure 3.3 Acoustic mode shapes ................................................................................... 8 Figure 3.4 coupled modes ............................................................................................... 9 Figure 3.5 Overall comparison of the relative natural frequency difference b/w coupled and structural modes for different plate thicknesses ..................................................... 12 Figure 3.6 deviation of coupled natural frequencies from uncoupled acoustic ............ 13 Figure 3.7 Nodes at which pressure response is recorded ............................................ 14 Figure 3.8 Sound Pressure response for node 3508 ...................................................... 14 Figure 3.9 Sound pressure response for node 3620 ...................................................... 15 Figure 3.10 Sound pressure response for node 3746 .................................................... 15 Figure 3.11 Sound pressure response for node 3900 .................................................... 15 v

Figure 4.1 New point of force application .................................................................... 18 Figure 4.2 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and only real impedance ..................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 4.3 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and 10 times the original real impedance ................................................................................................. 19 Figure 4.4 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and only imaginary impedance ..................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 4.5 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and complex impedance ..................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 4.6 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and complex impedance with 10 times the original real part ............................................................. 21 Figure 4.7 Forced Response Spectrum for different impedances ................................. 21 Figure 5.1 Structure of car shell with steel as the material ........................................... 24 Figure 5.2 Cross section views of the structure ............................................................ 24 Figure 5.3 Side view of the car structure ...................................................................... 24 Figure 5.4 Top view of the car structure ....................................................................... 25 Figure 5.5 Front view of the car structure..................................................................... 25 Figure 5.6 Car cavity..................................................................................................... 26 Figure 6.1 Structure meshing ........................................................................................ 27 Figure 6.2 Structural modes .......................................................................................... 28 Figure 6.3 Car cavity meshing ...................................................................................... 29 Figure 6.4 Natural modes of cavity............................................................................... 31 Figure 7.1 Boundary condition ..................................................................................... 32 Figure 7.2 mode 2 (10.74 Hz) ....................................................................................... 33 Figure 7.3 mode 4 (27.2 Hz) ......................................................................................... 33 Figure 7.4 mode 7 (33.24 Hz) ....................................................................................... 34 Figure 7.5 mode 17 (43.4 Hz) ....................................................................................... 34 Figure 7.6 Force ............................................................................................................ 35 Figure 7.7 Pressure Response measurement point ........................................................ 35 Figure 7.8 Pressure response......................................................................................... 36 Figure 8.1 Dimensions of backseat ............................................................................... 37 Figure 8.2 Dimensions of front seat .............................................................................. 38 Figure 8.3 Structure of car with seats ........................................................................... 38 Figure 8.4 Transparent view of car with seats .............................................................. 39 vi

Figure 8.5 Depiction of surfaces which are assigned the properties of glasss .............. 40 Figure 8.6 Forced response monitoring points ............................................................. 40 Figure 8.7 SPL at node 1............................................................................................... 41 Figure 8.8 SPL at node 2............................................................................................... 41 Figure 8.9 SPL at node 3............................................................................................... 42 Figure 8.10 SPL at node 4............................................................................................. 42

List of Tables
Table 3.1 Natual frequencies at different structural modes ............................................ 7 Table 3.2 Natural frequencies of coupled system at t = 1mm ........................................ 9 Table 3.3 Coupled Natural frequencies for different modes with different plate thicknesses .................................................................................................................... 10 Table 3.4 Individual and coupled frequencies with their modes .................................. 10 Table 3.5 Individual coupled and uncoupled structural natural frequencies ................ 11 Table 3.6 Natural Frequencies of uncoupled acoustic and coupled systems ................ 12 Table 6.1 Material Properties of Structure .................................................................... 27 Table 5.6.2 Natural Frequencies of structural modes ................................................... 28 Table 5.6.3 Properties of air .......................................................................................... 29 Table 5.6.4 Natual frequencies of acoustic modes ....................................................... 30 Table 7.1 Natural frequencies of coupled system ......................................................... 32 Table 8.1 Properties of glass ......................................................................................... 39

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Nomenclature & Abbreviations

Lp Pref Prms d acoustic pressure level reference pressure root mean square pressure angular frequency damping frequency

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Chapter 1 Introduction

Vibration is a very common phenomenon and people deal with them in day to day life. Vehicles are typical examples of that. In vehicles the vibrations generate basically from engine and if there is any unbalanced rotor present inside the transmission or any other shaft then it may also cause severe damage to parts. But here the study is confined to the structural vibrations that are responsible for the generation of noise inside the car. Sometimes the body, material and shape of the vehicle along with the amplitude and frequency of the vibrations generated by the engine create conditions known as resonance that makes noise to reach very high levels that can make the passenger uncomfortable (Dhandole and Modak, 2010). So it is important to account for these conditions and design the vehicles to operate far away from these conditions. A good assumption for this study is to consider the seating volume of the car as a closed adiabatic system with air as the matter present and the body of the vehicle as a cuboidal box which confines the air. For the study of their mutual effect on to each other a more simplistic model is made by considering a flexible plate instead of the box and its effect on the adiabatic cavity. So here analysis of uncoupled structural plate and acoustic cavity will be carried out and then a coupled analysis will be done. The results will be compared to figure out the conditions responsible for the resonance inside the cavity and once this model is ready then a similar analysis could be done on a more realistic model of a vehicle. And an attempt will be performed to remove the resonance conditions from the design of the vehicles.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Vibrations
Vibration refers to oscillations that take place in a mechanical rigid system at equilibrium. These Oscillations could be periodic or with varied frequency depending upon the damping conditions. More often, vibrations is undesirable,

wasting energy and creating unwanted sound noise. For example, the vibrational motions of engines, electric motors, or any mechanical device in operation are typically unwanted. Such vibrations can be caused by imbalances in the rotating parts, uneven friction, the meshing of gear teeth, etc. Careful designs usually minimize unwanted vibrations. Types of vibrations Generally vibrations are classified in two categories, Free Vibrations Forced Vibrations

Further there could be vibrations that include damping for which the natural frequencies do not remain same.

2.2 Sound Pressure

Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is a deviation in the local pressure from its ambient or atmospheric pressure produced by sound waves. Sound pressure level (SPL) or sound level is a logarithmic measure of the effective sound pressure of a sound relative to a reference value. It is measured in decibels (dB) above a standard reference level. The commonly used "zero" reference sound pressure in air is 20 Pa RMS, which is usually considered the threshold of human hearing (at 1 kHz). = 2010

(1.26)

The commonly used reference sound pressure in air is pref = 20 Pa (rms), which is usually considered
Figure 2.1 standing waves

the threshold of human hearing (roughly the sound of a mosquito flying 3 m away). The maximum value which human being can withstand is approximately 130 dB. While normal conversation takes place at 40-60 dB. So in order to reduce the noise produced inside the car one must design the conditions such that even at the resonance condition the sound level doesnt increase 40-50 dB of the sound level. In sound waves also we can have multiple wave modes same as in structural vibrations. As shown in the figure also the standing waves that are generated in the closed and open pipes are different wave modes of the sound waves.

2.3 Finite Element Method

In this method of analysis, a complex region defining a continuum is discretized into simple geometric shapes called finite elements.[3] The material properties and the governing relationships are considered over these elements and expressed in terms of unknown values at element corners. An assembly process, duly considering the loading and constraints, results in a set of equations. Solution of these equations gives us the approximate behaviour of the continuum. The basic procedure is to first create the CAD model of the body to be analysed. Material properties as required by the user are assigned to the body. The various boundary conditions and loads are applied on the body according to the specifications. Then the body is divided into finite elements based on whether the model is onedimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional, thereby creating a mesh. For example, a 2-dimensional body may be divided into triangular or quadrilateral elements while a 3-dimensional body may be divide into 4-node tetrahedral or 8-node hexahedral elements. 2.3.1 Shell Element

Shell element can be either 1-D or 2-D plane element. Boundary condition is applied a t edge/curve. 3-D Structures that consist of thin surfaces are ideal structures for shell element application. There is an enormous time saving when shell elements are used in place of 3-D solid elements.
Figure 2.2 Shell elements

2.3.2

Tetrahedral Element

Linear tetrahedral elements constant stress elements with four nodes. These elements are formulated in threedimensional space with three degrees of freedom per node; these are the translational degrees of freedom in the X, Y and Z directions, respectively.
Figure 2.3 Tetrahedral element

2.3.3

Hexahedral Element

The generalization of a quadrilateral in three-dimensions is a hexahedron, also known in the finite element literature as brick. A hexahedron is topologically equivalent to a cube. It has eight corners, twelve edges or sides, and six faces. Finite elements with this geometry are extensively used in modelling three-dimensional solids.
Figure 2.4 Octahedral element

2.4 Acoustic coupling with structural vibrations in a car

In passenger vehicles, the closed body of the car shield sometimes creates unexpected higher levels of noise in lower frequency range, which makes passenger uncomfortable. The reason for these higher levels of noise is the resonance of the combined acoustic medium and structural body. Depending upon the natural frequencies of different modes of both acoustic and structural body the vibrations produced by the engine could excite the combined system to considerable large amplitudes. So it is always prescribed to keep the frequency of the vibrations of engine to be as far away from the combined modal frequency as possible. Even though it is not always possible depending upon the design, shape volume and surfaces of the interior of the car, so a coupled analysis is required for predicting the noise levels at different position and at different frequencies so that required modifications could be introduced in the system to reduce the noise levels.

2.5 Problem Statement

1. To develop and analyse the structural, acoustic & vibro-acoustic models of a rectangular box cavity with a plate and to study the effect of cavity geometry on vibro-acoustic coupling. 2. To develop and analyse the structural, acoustic and vibro-acoustic model of a car cavity. 3. To study the forced response of the same model with different kinds of forces. 4. To measure the noise levels at different locations in the cavity at coupled modal frequencies. 5. To study the effects of absorber plate on the coupling.

2.6 Gantt Chart

S. No 1 2 3 Task name Preliminary study of Noise and learning Abaqus. Structual, acoustic and coupled analysis of box cavity Forced Response and SPL measurement of sound in the box Learning Solidworks and modelling the car stucture and cavity Natural freuncy analysis of car structure Natural frequency analysis of car cavity Coupled natural frequency analysis Forced Response and SPL measurement of sound in the car Including the absorbing material in the structural model and performing the analysis again. Including the damping to the acoustic medium and perofrming the analysis again Including the volume of the seats and passengers in the cavity and do the final analysis Duration 30 days 40 days 30 days Start date 10-08-2010 11-09-2010 22-10-2010 End date 10-09-2010 21-10-2010 22-11-2010 1 2 Pre requisite

15 days

05-01-2011

20-01-2011

5 6 7 8 9

5 days 5 days 10 days 5 days 20 days

20-01-2011 25-01-2011 31-01-2011 10-02-2011 15-02-2011

25-01-2011 30-01-2011 10-02-2011 15-02-2011 05-03-2011

4 4 5,6 7 7

10

20 days

05-03-2011

25-03-2011

11

30 days

25-03-2011

15-04-2011

Chapter 3 Structural, Acoustic & Vibro-acoustic Analysis of a rectangular box cavity with a plate (Work done in Project Part 1)
3.1 Analysis of Plate
A frequency analysis for a plate (300mm x 261mm) is carried out in Abaqus for its natural frequency at different modes. The plate material used is stainless steel the properties of the material. The thickness of plate is varied from 0.5 mm to 2 mm so as to understand the effect of thickness on the coupled analysis which will be done later on. The boundary conditions in this case were taken as the fixed edges of the plate. Simulation was run for 10 eigen values and different mode shapes were obtained. Frequencies of different modes for different thickness are plotted in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 variation of modal frequencies with mode numbers and thickness

In Figure 3.1 it can be easily seen that as thickness increases the frequency for each mode shapes increases. The result is quite obvious because increasing thickness would increase the stiffness of the structure and thus increase the natural frequency of their respective modes.

Different mode shapes are shown in Figure 3.2

Figure 3.2 Structural mode shapes

In Figure 3.2 Mode 1 has only one lobe and there is no nodal plane, which is known as monopole as we go for higher modes the number of lobes increases. The centre of a lobe has maximum deflection about the mean position. Mode 2 and mode 3 are known as dipole and have one nodal plane each along one axis while mode 4 is a quadra-pole and has two nodal planes. In monopole net force on the boundaries is not zero, while for dipole and quadra-pole it is zero. The result could be generalized for even and odd poles.

3.2 Analysis of cavity

The acoustic natural frequency analysis of the cavity (686mm x 300mm x 261mm) was done on Abaqus. The cavity was assumed to be filled with air, so the properties of ambient air at 27oC are used and it is assumed that air is adiabatically isolated from the outer environment. So, boundary condition here is the zero pressure gradients at the surfaces of the cavity. The simulation was run for 10 eigen values and each eigen value gave its respective mode shape and natural frequency, the data is quantized in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Natual frequencies at different structural modes

Modes Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4

Natural frequency (s-1) 0 250.64 500.74 572.28

Modes Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9

Natural frequency (s-1) 657.39 702.68 749.77 758.00

Mode 5

624.02

Mode 10

823.42

It is observed that frequency is increasing rapidly initially and then more modes are included within small ranges of frequencies.The mode shapes formed are shown in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3 Acoustic mode shapes

In Figure 3.3, the green lines are the nodal planes while the red region represents the maximum acoustic pressure and blue region represents the minimum acoustic pressure. Nodal planes lie along different planes and accordingly it can be named as mode (1,0,0) for mode 2, mode(2,0,0) for mode 3 and mode(1,1,0) for mode 5 where (x,y,z) indicates the number of nodal planes along the three axes.

3.3 Vibro-Acoustic Coupled Response of Cavity with Plate

After the uncoupled structural analysis of plate and acoustic analysis of cavity have been carried out separately, the plate and the cavity are coupled together to carry out the coupled analysis. The dimensions of the plate and the cavity as mentioned earlier are 300mm x 261mm and 300mm x 261mm x 686mm respectively. The plate is flexible and is fixed on one face of the box cavity.

3.3.1

Mode Shapes of coupling The frequency analysis of the coupling was performed to obtain the natural

frequency of different modes. The analysis was carried out for 10 eigenvalues with the thickness of plate as 1mm. The values obtained are given in Table 3.2
Table 3.2 Natural frequencies of coupled system at t = 1mm

Mode Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Natural Frequency(Hz) 63.887 147.98 176.15 259.01 294.49 374.65 403.38 455.34 513.82 595.96

The acoustic pressure contours for mode 1 to mode 4 are shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4 coupled modes

In the Figure 3.4, the contrast of the elements is a measure of pressure rise or fall, the front surface is the displacement of the acoustic medium not the structural, although structure also affects it. The point to note in the Figure 3.4 is that the coupled modes in which the plate has odd number of lobes has a good pressure gradient while the modes which have even number of lobes in the plate have more or less uniform pressure inside the cavity. Now the natural frequency analysis of the coupling with different plate thicknesses is carried out. The thicknesses of plate chosen are 0.5mm, 1.5mm and 2mm apart from 1mm for which analysis has been carried out earlier. The natural frequencies for different modes are tabulated in Table 3.3.
Table 3.3 Coupled Natural frequencies for different modes with different plate thicknesses

Mode Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Frequency (Hz)

0.5mm plate 0 42.476 73.202 87.233 128.58 146.27 185.84 200.57 226.42 255.27

1mm plate 0 66.375 147.16 175.27 251.78 258.02 294.15 373.65 402.11 453.85

1.5mm plate 0 96.430 221.05 251.90 263.23 387.29 440.47 501.36 560.90 572.44

2mm plate 0 127.58 251.78 294.85 351.08 501.03 516.33 572.49 587.60 624.36

Now the natural frequency analyses of plate and cavity done previously are compared with the coupled frequency analysis to find out which mode is dominated by structural mode and which by acoustic modes.
Table 3.4 Individual and coupled frequencies with their modes

Structural

Acoustic

Coupled

Mode 1 2 3 -

Frequency 63.887 147.98 176.15 -

Mode 1 2

Frequency 0 250.64 10

Mode 1 2 3 4 5

Frequency 0 66.375 147.16 175.27 251.78

4 5 6 7 8 9

259.01 294.49 374.65 403.38 455.34 513.82

3 4

500.74 572.28

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

258.02 294.15 373.65 402.11 453.85 501.94 511.90 572.98 594.47

It can be seen that most of the initial modes in coupled frequency modes are due to the structural modes. But as we proceed further, the contribution of structural and acoustic modes becomes even. 3.3.2 Comparison of coupled and uncoupled natural response

3.3.2.1 Plate The coupling has a mutual effect on frequencies of both cavity and plate. Sometimes either mode of cavity is dominant in deciding the natural frequency of the coupled system and sometimes the mode of cavity decides the natural frequency of the combined. Here is an attempt to separate out the dominant plate frequencies of different modes from the coupled frequencies. Table 3.5 shows a comparison of coupled and uncoupled frequencies of plates.
Table 3.5 Individual coupled and uncoupled structural natural frequencies

modes Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

t = 0.5 mm

t = 1.0 mm

t = 1.5 mm

t = 2.0 mm

uncoupled coupled uncoupled coupled Uncoupled coupled Uncoupled coupled 31.948 63.887 95.805 127.69 42.476 66.375 127.58 96.43 74.005 147.98 221.91 295.76 73.202 147.16 294.85 221.05 88.089 176.15 264.15 352.07 87.233 175.27 351.08 263.23 129.54 259.01 388.34 517.46 128.58 258.02 516.33 387.29 187.37 201.76 227.75 256.99 298.12 147.28 146.27 185.54 200.57 226.42 255.27 296.8 374.65 403.38 455.34 513.82 595.96 294.49 294.15 373.65 402.11 453.85 511.9 594.47 561.75 604.72 682.62 770.31 893.26 441.58
440.47 560.9 603.19 681.42 770.77

748.56 805.65 909.42 1026.3 1189.7 588.47

587.6 745.03 803.91 907.76 1025.0 1188.1

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Frequency difference ( fco-fcu) is plotted against their respective modes in Figure 3.5

rel. freq. change

0.003 0.001 -0.001 -0.003 -0.005 -0.007 -0.009 -0.011 -0.013 -0.015 t = 0.5 t = 1.0 t = 1.5 t = 2.0 0 1 2 3

Mode
4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 3.5 Overall comparison of the relative natural frequency difference b/w coupled and structural modes for different plate thicknesses

Here we can see that, for mode = 1 the frequency of plate increases instead of decreasing as we decrease the thickness of the plate. It can be concluded that the combined stiffness of the coupling increases for mode one, but as the thickness of the structure increases the stiffness of the system decreases. Also the stiffness decreases as the modes are increased, but one important factor here to point out is that for thicker structures the combined stiffness starts increasing with modes and it doesnt follow the general trend. 3.3.2.2 Cavity A similar analysis is also done to check the effect on cavity by separating out the air dominant frequencies of the cavity over the coupled system. And then these frequencies are compared in Table 3.6 and the natural frequency differences are plotted in Figure 3.6. In this analysis plate thickness t = 1 mm is considered.

Table 3.6 Natural Frequencies of uncoupled acoustic and coupled systems

Modes Mode 1 Mode 2

uncoupled 250.64 500.74

Coupled 251.78 501.94

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Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7

572.28 657.39 624.02 702.68 749.77 Frequency difference

572.98 625.1 656.97 704.48 750.4

2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 -0.5 -1

Figure 3.6 deviation of coupled natural frequencies from uncoupled acoustic

We can see here that the combined effect of the coupling also increases the mode1 frequency and it decreases at mode 5. We can say that the system stiffness depends on the stiffness of individual bodies as well as modes at which they are strongly coupled. We can also conclude that there is no regular trend of the domination of structure over cavity or vice-versa. 3.3.3 Forced Response The response inside the cavity is crucial in predicting the noise. To this effect, the acoustic pressure is monitored for different frequencies at specific nodes(node numbers 3508, 3620, 3746, 3900 shown left to right in Figure 3.7) inside the cavity by applying different kinds of forces such as impulse force and harmonic force. The forces are applied at a particular node on the plate.

13

Figure 3.7 Nodes at which pressure response is recorded

Harmonic force A harmonic force of the form Acos(2t) with A=1 was applied perpendicular to the plate close to its centre and was varied from 1 to 500. The plot of acoustic pressure vs frequency is shown in the following figures for the four selected nodes.

Figure 3.8 Sound Pressure response for node 3508

14

Figure 3.9 Sound pressure response for node 3620

Figure 3.10 Sound pressure response for node 3746

Figure 3.11 Sound pressure response for node 3900

15

It can be seen from the sound pressure plots, peaks are formed at resonant frequencies of the coupled system. It can also be observed that some peaks are always present in the four positions while some small peaks disappear at some other positions. The pressure level trend is almost same at different positions but for some small sound levels it becomes insignificant. So we can say that not all modes are responsible for higher noise levels at different positions.

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Chapter 4 Inclusion of Acoustic Impedance in the Box Cavity Model

In general, a phase relation exists between the pressure and the particle velocity. The complex impedance is defined as Z = R + iX Where, R is the resistive part, and X is the reactive part of the impedance The resistive part represents the various loss mechanisms an acoustic wave experiences such as random thermal motion. For the case of propagation through a duct, wall vibrations and viscous forces at the air/wall interface (boundary layer) can also have a significant effect, especially at high frequencies for the latter. For resistive effects, energy is removed from the wave and converted into other forms. This energy is said to be 'lost from the system'. The reactive part represents the ability of air to store the kinetic energy of the wave as potential energy since air is a compressible medium. It does so by compression and rarefaction. The electrical analogy for this is the capacitor's ability to store and dump electric charge, hence storing and releasing energy in the electric field between the capacitor plates. For reactive effects, energy is not lost from the system but converted between kinetic and potential forms. To include this acoustic impedance, an interaction property is defined at the surface of the box opposite to the plate. Again the change in the forced response is measured at three points inside the cavity first close to the plate, second in the centre of the cavity and third close to the opposite surface. This time the force is applied to a point on the plate away from the centre so that dipoles do not cancel the effect of each other and we get distinct peaks in the frequency spectrum.

17

Figure 4.1 New point of force application

The value of impedance used is Z=228-1456i. Different combinations of the real and imaginary part are used to compare the forced response spectrum with each other. The different combinations were: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Only real part with no imaginary part Ten times the original real part Only imaginary part Both real and imaginary parts Both real and imaginary parts with the real part ten times the original

The SPL at the point closest to the plate for the different cases listed above is plotted in graph.

18

160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 19 37 55 73 91 109 127 145 163 181 199 217 235 253 271 289 307 325 343 361 379 397 415 433 451 469 487
Figure 4.2 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and only real impedance

SPL(no imp.) SPL(real imp.)

160.00 140.00

SPL(no imp.) SPL(10x real imp.)

120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 19 37 55 73 91 109 127 145 163 181 199 217 235 253 271 289 307 325 343 361 379 397 415 433 451 469 487
Figure 4.3 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and 10 times the original real impedance

19

200.00 180.00

SPL(no imp.) SPL(imag. imp.)

160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 18 35 52 69 86 103 120 137 154 171 188 205 222 239 256 273 290 307 324 341 358 375 392 409 426 443 460 477 494
Figure 4.4 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and only imaginary impedance

200.00 SPL(no imp.) 180.00 SPL(complex imp.) 160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 1 17 33 49 65 81 97 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 0.00

Figure 4.5 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and complex impedance

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180.00 SPL(no imp.) 160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 1 17 33 49 65 81 97 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 SPL(no imp.) SPL(real imp.) 180.00 160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 1 17 33 49 65 81 97 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Figure 4.7 Forced Response Spectrum for different impedances

SPL(complex imp. with 10x real)

0.00

Figure 4.6 Comparison of SPL for the cases with no impedance and complex impedance with 10 times the original real part

200.00

SPL(10x real imp.) SPL(imag. imp.) SPL(complex imp.) SPL(complex imp. with 10x real)

0.00

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It is observed that the graph for SPL with complex impedance, more or less overlaps the graph for SPL with imaginary impedance. With this observation we can conclude that the real part of impedance has hardly any role to play in the complex impedance. But when only real impedance is used we get a significantly different graph. So the real part when used alone can make a difference.

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Chapter 5 Modelling of Structure of a car and its Cavity

The modelling of a car required realistic dimensions. So a Maruti 800 car was used as a reference. The measurements of the basic structure of the car were taken. These measurements were used to design the structure of the car in Solidworks. The structure was made in parasolid format that could be imported in the Abaqus. There were few assumptions involved in the model. Fillets at the edges are ignored. The interior of the car is highly simplified and the volume occupied by the passengers and seats are ignored. The front structure of the bonnet is also simplified as it does not participate in the coupling. The doors are also considered as same surface as the entire shell.

All these assumptions are made as to avoid the complex meshing and very large simulation running time. The simplified geometry also avoided various errors in the analysis part. For example, the fillets in the parasolid format are not explicitly defined as a feature of Bose or surface. So, it generates an error and also complex geometries would have quite a large number of different surfaces, which increase the complexity of the model by coupling all the surfaces one by one with the cavity. The current model has around 20 different surfaces that are coupled.

5.1 Structural model

The structure was modelled entirely by 3D surfaces in the Solidworks. The thicknesses of the surfaces are kept 0mm. But it is provided as 1mm in the analysis part. The cavity inside the car is kept completely closed. The complex interior geometries like dash board, seats, passenger have been ignored. The surfaces are made individually by providing the relations like coincident and offset and then they are bound together by knitting all the surfaces at their intersection curves to the other. This converts all the surfaces to a single one and which was then used while extracting the cavity. The model is shown in Figure 5.1

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Figure 5.1 Structure of car shell with steel as the material

The cross sections are shown in Figure 5.2

Figure 5.2 Cross section views of the structure

The dimensions are shown in Figure 5.3, Figure 5.4 and Figure 5.5.

Figure 5.3 Side view of the car structure

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Figure 5.4 Top view of the car structure

Figure 5.5 Front view of the car structure

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5.2 Cavity
The cavity was extracted out from the enclosed surfaces of the structural model, using the option of extend in the Bose feature of Solidworks. Another way of extracting the cavity was by knitting the enclosed surfaces in the Surface option of Solidworks or by using cavity in the mold option. These options simplified the tedious work of making cavity of the same dimension. The diagram of the cavity is shown in Figure 5.6

Figure 5.6 Car cavity

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Chapter 6 Natural Frequency Analysis of Structure and Cavity

6.1 Structural Natural Frequency Analysis
The part created in Solidworks was imported into Abaqus. The properties of steel were assigned to the structure. The whole structure was assumed to be a completely closed cavity and an assumption of uniform material in the entire shell was made.
Table 6.1 Material Properties of Structure

Property Density Youngs modulus Poisson ratio

value 7800 kg/m3 2.1x1011Pa 0.3

Figure 6.1 Structure meshing

The meshing of the structure was done using triangular elements as shown in Figure 6.1. Then the natural frequency analysis of the structure was carried out. 27

Table 5.6.2 Natural Frequencies of structural modes

Modes
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Natural Frequency (Hz)

9.23 14.41 23.68 23.76 27.46 27.56 31.72 31.79 32.48 32.71

Mode 1

mode 2

Mode 3

mode 7 Figure 6.2 Structural modes

Various structural modes are shown in Figure 5.2. Most of the intial modes are observed in the bonnet (front protruding part) which do not participate in the coupling. 28

While some modes e.g. mode 7 which occurs at slightly higher frequency come into picture, mode 7 vibrates the shell at the region which will be coupled to the acoustic medium, So mode participates in coupling.

6.2 Acoustic Natural Frequency Analysis

The part extracted out of the car structure was imported into Abaqus as car cavity. The properties of air were assigned to the cavity. Here the cavity is assumed to be have no absorbing material and the volume occupied by the seats and driver is ignored. The material properties of the air are shown in Table 5.6.3 Properties of air
Table 5.6.3 Properties of air

Property Density of air, Bulk modulus of air, B

value 1.29 kg/m3 1.42x105 Pa

Figure 6.3 Car cavity meshing

The meshing of the cavity was done using Acoustic 4-node tetrahedral element. Using this type of elements simplifies the meshing to a large extend and it removes some geometric errors due to very fine gaps. It also reduces the number of nodes which avoids large simulation time. The meshing is shown in Figure 6.3 Car cavity meshing

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Table 5.6.4 Natual frequencies of acoustic modes

Modes Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Natural frequency (s-1) 0 90.2 138.0 163.5 170.8 183.1 217.4 223.2 229.1 242.2

The acoustic modes are shown in Figure 6.4 Natural modes of cavity. It is observed that the acoustic modes start at a much higher frequency than the structural modes. The blue region is the peak negative pressure, the red region is the peak positive pressure and the green region is the nodal plane. At the nodal plane the acoustic pressure is zero.

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Figure 6.4 Natural modes of cavity

Chapter 7 Coupled Analysis

After the structural and acoustic analysis was done, the structure and the cavity were assembled together to carry out the coupled natural frequency and forced analysis.

7.1 Coupled Natural Frequency Analysis

The coupled natural frequency analysis of the model was carried after fixing the model at some surface as shown in the Figure 7.1. These surface are assumed to be in contact with the arms of the wheels and simple assumption was made to fix these surfaces.

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Figure 7.1 Boundary condition

The calculated natural frequencies are shown in Table 7.1

Table 7.1 Natural frequencies of coupled system

Mode Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Natural Frequency(Hz) 0 10.74 18.30 27.20 30.30 32.86 33.24 34.34 34.67 35.33

Since the acoustic modes start at a much higher frequency, the initial coupled modes are dominated by structural modes. Various coupled modes are shown in Figure 7.2 to Figure 7.5.

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Figure 7.2 mode 2 (10.74 Hz)

Figure 7.3 mode 4 (27.2 Hz)

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Figure 7.4 mode 7 (33.24 Hz)

Figure 7.5 mode 17 (43.4 Hz)

In most of the modes the pressure variation is uniform and only few modes contribute to high noise. For example in Figure 7.4 the coupling results into a dipole cancellation and due to which most of the acoustic medium has very small variation in acoustic pressure, which could be depicted by a very large green region. Some modes for example in Figure 7.5 result into large generation exactly at the region where the passengers sit, So these modes are very important to analyze.

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7.2 Forced response

A harmonic forced of magnitude 1 N and frequency varying from 1 Hz to 200 Hz was applied from the front and the acoustic pressure was observed at a point inside the cavity. The point of application is shown in Figure 7.6 and the response is then observed at a node shown in Figure 7.7.

Figure 7.6 Force

Figure 7.7 Pressure Response measurement point

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Figure 7.8 Pressure response

The SPL is measured and the plot is shown in Figure 7.8. It could be seen that intial modes are dominated by structural modes and for only few of them have strong coupling. While most of them make weak coupling with the cavity and that is why the expected SPL is low for those modes.

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Chapter 8 Coupled Analysis of Complex Car Models

8.1 Car with chairs
The natural response and sound level in the cavity are significantly affected by the volume occupied by the chairs and drivers, so only the analysis of empty cavity was not sufficient. The variations in the number of passengers and chairs are done and then response is measured. Initial variations include the analysis of cavity with chair only. The dimensions of the chair are shown in Figure 8.1 and Figure 8.2. The assumptions initially made are 1.) The surfaces of the chair are assumed to be non-absorbing and there is no impedance in the chairs surface. 2.) The materials of the chair are excluded here as it does not affect the response with the assumption we are making. 3.) Adiabatic contact at the interface is assumed.

Figure 8.1 Dimensions of backseat

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Figure 8.2 Dimensions of front seat

The assembly is done in Solid works and in order to avoid any zero geometry errors in the analysis the mates are made by providing a gap of 10 mm at every contact. This solves the problem of invalid geometry error in Abaqus. The assembly is shown in Figure 8.3. The cavity is again extracted by using the options in mold.

Figure 8.3 Structure of car with seats

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Figure 8.4 Transparent view of car with seats

8.1.1

Analysis

In the analysis the material of glass is also included. The properties are listed in Table 8.1. The surfaces of glasses that are selected are shown in Figure 8.5. The assumption here is that the entire middle portion is covered with glass and there are no steel parts in between.
Table 8.1 Properties of glass

Density Youngs modulus Possion ratio

2500 kg/m3 6.5x1010 0.17

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Figure 8.5 Depiction of surfaces which are assigned the properties of glasss

The response inside the cavity is monitored at four points during the simulation the points close to the passengers heads if there were passengers inside. At these points the pressure is monitored at different frequencies of force, which is later used to calculate the sound pressure levels.

Figure 8.6 Forced response monitoring points

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Again the force is applied at same point as before, i.e., on the front part of the shell. The frequency of force is varied from 1 Hz to 200 Hz and the frequency spacing is kept as 1 Hz so as to enforce a high degree of resolution. The SPL observed at these points is then plotted.
140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 8 15 22 29 36 43 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 106 113 120 127 134 141 148 155 162 169 176 183 190 197
Figure 8.7 SPL at node 1

SPL-node 1

160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 -20.00

SPL-node2

1 8 15 22 29 36 43 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 106 113 120 127 134 141 148 155 162 169 176 183 190 197
Figure 8.8 SPL at node 2

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160.00

SPL-node3
140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 8 15 22 29 36 43 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 106 113 120 127 134 141 148 155 162 169 176 183 190 197
Figure 8.9 SPL at node 3

160.00

SPL-node4
140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1 8 15 22 29 36 43 50 57 64 71 78 85 92 99 106 113 120 127 134 141 148 155 162 169 176 183 190 197

frequency
Figure 8.10 SPL at node 4

In the plots from Figure 8.7 to Figure 8.10, it is observed that the trend is similar. The peaks are observed at similar frequencies. In general, the SPL is increasing with the mode number. It can be attributed to the fact that the acoustic modes start from 42

relatively higher frequencies of about 90 Hz as compared to the structural modes which begin at about 10 Hz. So as the frequency increases, the contribution of the acoustic modes in the resonance increases and a higher SPL is observed. The peaks in the plots are due to resonance while the valleys are due to dipole cancellation.

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Chapter 9 Conclusion

The following conclusions were derived from the analyses of simple box cavity: 1) In the structural analysis the frequencies for various modes increase when the thickness of the plate is increased. 2) In the cavity analysis the mode 1 frequency is very high as compared to structural frequency for the same mode. But the frequencies for higher modes become close to each other. So, it is highly probable when the external harmonic force acting at higher frequency would result into resonance vibrations. Same is also true for structure. 3) In the coupled analysis when thickness is kept low the natural frequency for the first mode of the plate in the coupled system rises to a considerably large value, while opposite happens when thickness is kept large. So, it could be concluded that for lower thickness the effective stiffness of the coupled system increases while for large thickness effective stiffness decreases. 4) The combined stiffness decreases with the increased number of modes for lower thickness while it increases for larger thickness. 5) In harmonic analysis when coupling is tested for resonance conditions and sound levels, it can be found that for some modes the value of sound level is very high (e.g. mode 1 has sound level ~70dB) and crosses the normal conversational dB level (i.e. 40 dB), while for some other modes sound levels remain within the specified boundaries. So not all modes are important in figuring out the sound levels that are responsible for higher sound levels. 6) The sound levels also vary with positions inside the cavity. But at resonance the trends remain same for almost every element.

The following conclusions were derived from the analyses of car with the same material properties as that of box.

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1) In the natural frequency analysis of the structure, the natural frequencies of initial modes are very small (9.2 Hz), not even in the audible range. These modes also do not contribute to the coupling. 2) The higher modes of the structure have very close natural frequencies. 3) In the natural frequency analysis of the cavity, the frequency is quite large (90 Hz) as compared to structural first mode. 4) The higher noise peaks are observed at some frequencies which are dominated by structural modes.

9.1 Scope for future work

The model of the car can be made more accurate by incorporating parts like dashboard, seats etc. Damping has been neglected in the analyses. It can be considered in the future. Absorber plates can be put up. Materials like glass can be assigned in some parts of the model. The frequency response spectrum needs to be refined. Other forces like impulse can be applied to see their effect on the pressure response.

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References
[1] Dhandole, S., Modak, S.V., 2010, On improving weakly coupled cavity models for vibro-acoustic predictions and design, Applied Acoustics, Volume 71, Issue 9, Pages 876-884. [2] Rao, Singiresu S., 2010, Mechanical Vibrations, Edition 5, Pearson Education, Singapore, ISBN0132128195. [3] Chadrupatla, T. R., Belegundu, A.D.,2005, Introduction to Finite Element Engineering,3rd edition , Pearson Education, Singapore. [4] Jingtao Du, Zhigang Liu, Tiejun Yang, and Wen Li, J., 2009, Vibro-acoustic coupling of a rectangular cavity backed by a flexible panel with general boundary conditions, Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 2693

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