Sound radiation from perforated plates

A practical engineering noise control measure that can often be used for plate-like structures is to construct them from perforates. This can dramatically reduce the sound radiation from such structures. Here, a prediction model is developed to quantify this effect. It is an extension of Laulagnet's model for the radiation from an unbaffled plate, which expresses the surface pressure difference as well as the plate velocity as a sum over plate modes. The perforation is included in terms of a continuously distributed surface impedance, which for moderately sized holes is predominantly inertial. Results show that the radiation efficiency reduces, not only as the perforation ratio increases but also as the hole size reduces for a given perforation ratio. Experimental validation is given which shows a good agreement with the predictions. An approximate formula is also proposed for the effect of perforation which corresponds well with the analytical calculations up to half the critical frequency and could be used for an engineering application to predict the noise reduction due to perforation. A model for the case of a perforated plate embedded in an equally perforated baffle is also discussed for comparison.     

Extraordinary sound screening in perforated plates

We report extraordinary effects in the transmission of sound through periodically perforated plates, supported by both measurements and theory. In agreement with recent observations in slit arrays, M. H. Lu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 174301 (2007)10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.174301], nearly full transmission is observed at certain resonant frequencies, pointing out similarities of the acoustic phenomena and their optical counterpart. However, acoustic screening well beyond that predicted by the mass law is achieved over a wide range of wavelengths in the vicinity of the period of the array, resulting in fundamentally unique behavior of the sound as compared to light.     

Radiation efficiency of submerged rectangular plates

The average radiation efficiency of point-excited submerged rectangular plates is investigated in two methods, deterministic analysis and statistical approach, respectively. In the deterministic analysis, the effect of mutual impedance by water loading on the velocity of the plate is illustrated analytically by using a modal summation method. The cross-modal contributions to the average radiation efficiency are averaged to zero by averaging over all possible excitation positions on the plate. In the statistical approach, by analyzing the engineering formulae of the average radiation efficiency in air, this paper modifies the formulae to be applicable in water. The numerical comparisons show that the modified formulae reflect the average level in the frequency region controlled by corner modes and are accurate enough in the region controlled by monopole and edge modes. On this basis, approximate expressions for predicting the average radiation efficiency of the submerged beam-stiffened rectangular plates are proposed. The main differences between air loading and water loading are considered. Firstly, as dry modes taken in analysis instead of real vibration modes in water, the vibration of the stiffened plate is not only determined by the first mode but by several modes simultaneously at low frequencies. Secondly, the “corner mode region” becomes inappropriate as the plate is stiffened. The proposed formulae are validated numerically in different size, thickness, and stiffener amount of the stiffened plate.     

Vibration and damping analysis of annular plates with constrained damping layer treatments

The natural frequencies and modal loss factors of annular plates with fully and partially constrained damping treatments are considered. The equations of free vibration of the plate including the transverse shear effects are derived by a discrete layer annular finite element method. The extensional and shear moduli of the viscoelastic material layer are described by the complex quantities. Complex eigenvalues are then found numerically, and from these, both frequencies and loss factors are extracted. The effects of viscoelastic layer stiffness and thickness, constraining layer stiffness and thickness, and treatment size on natural frequencies and modal loss factors are presented. Numerical results also show that the longer constrained damping treatment in radial length does not always provide better damping than the shorter ones.     

Analytical modeling of squeeze-film damping for perforated circular microplates

Predicting squeeze-film damping due to the air gap between the vibrating microstructure and a fixed substrate is crucial in the design of microelectromechanical system (MEMS). The amount of squeeze-film damping can be controlled by providing perforations in microstructures. In the past, to include perforation effects in squeeze-film damping calculations, many analytical models have been proposed. However, only the rectangular perforated microplates are considered in the previous works. There is lack of works that model the squeeze-film damping of circular perforated microplates. In fact, the circular perforated microplates are also common elements in MEMS devices.     

Numerical vibroacoustic analysis of plates with constrained-layer damping patches

A numerical vibroacoustic model that can manage multilayered plates locally covered with damping patches is presented. All the layers can have an on-axis orthotropic viscoelastic behavior. Continuity of displacements and transverse shear stresses at each interface is enforced, which permits to write the entire displacement field in function of the displacements of the--common--first layer, leading to a two-dimensional plate model. The problem is then discretized by Rayleigh-Ritz's method using a trigonometric basis that includes both sine and cosine functions in order to treat various boundary conditions. The excitation can be of mechanical kind (concentrated or distributed forces) or of acoustic kind (plane wave of any incidence, diffuse field, etc.). The model permits to compute different vibroacoustic indicators: the mean square velocity of the plate, the radiation efficiency, and the transmission loss. Comparisons between the present model and numerical results from literature or finite element computations show that the model gives good results in both mechanical and acoustical aspects. Then, a comparison of the effects of different distributions of patches is presented. The role of the surface covering rate is first discussed, followed by a study involving different geometries for the same surface covering rate.     

Radiation efficiency of unbaffled and perforated plates near a rigid reflecting surface

The accurate prediction of sound radiation from plate-like structures remains a challenging problem. Although the case of a plate set in a rigid baffle can be solved analytically, when the plate radiates sound into free space the problem is more difficult to solve; nevertheless, several approaches have been proposed to determine the sound radiation from an unbaffled plate. The present study extends the consideration to the situation of an unbaffled plate which is located close to a rigid reflecting surface. For this purpose, Laulagnet's model for the radiation efficiency of an unbaffled plate is extended by modifying the Green's function to include an image source due to the reflecting surface. The results show that, depending on the distance between the plate and the rigid surface, the radiation efficiency is considerably reduced at low frequencies. Additional reduction of sound radiation can be achieved by introducing perforation to the plate. However, at higher frequencies, the radiation efficiency is amplified relative to that for the plate in the absence of the rigid surface, both with and without perforation. These results have also been validated experimentally.     

Flexural vibration of perforated plates and porous elastic materials under acoustic loading

This paper presents a method of theoretical treatment of acoustic coupling due to flexural vibration of perforated plates and plates of porous elastic materials. The analytical model is developed by introducing flow continuity at the plate surface in a spatially mean sense and air-solid interaction within the plate material. To demonstrate the method of application, some fundamental acoustic problems based on a classical thin-plate theory are analyzed and discussed in relation to the interactive effect of flexural vibration and plate permeability. For acoustic radiation from a vibrating plate excited by a harmonic point-force, the attenuation effect of power radiation appears at frequencies below the critical frequency of coincidence. In the problem of sound absorption of a perforated plate or a plate of porous elastic material backed by an air layer, as permeability decreases, the effect of plate vibration increases. For perforated absorber systems including plate vibration effects, the trend of variation from ordinary theory depends on plate thickness.     

Acoustic modeling of perforated plates with bias flow for Large-Eddy Simulations

The study of the acoustic effect of perforated plates by Large-Eddy Simulations is reported. The ability of compressible Large-Eddy Simulations to provide data on the flow around a perforated plate and the associated acoustic damping is demonstrated. In particular, assumptions of existing models of the acoustic effect of perforated plate are assessed thanks to the Large-Eddy Simulations results. The question of modeling the effect of perforated plates is then addressed in the context of thermo-acoustic instabilities of gas turbine combustion chambers. Details are provided about the implementation, validation and application of a homogeneous boundary condition modeling the acoustic effect of perforated plates for compressible Large-Eddy Simulations of the flow in combustions chambers cooled by full-coverage film cooling.     

Time-domain characterization of the acoustic damping of a perforated liner with bias flow

Combustion instabilities are caused by the interaction of unsteady heat releases and acoustic waves. To mitigate combustion instabilities, perforated liners, typically subjected to a low Mach number bias flow (a cooling flow through perforated holes), are fitted along the bounding walls of a combustor. They dissipate the acoustic waves by generating vorticity at the rims of perforated apertures. To investigate the absorption of plane waves by a perforated liner with bias flow, a time-domain numerical model of a cylindrical lined duct is developed. The liners' damping mechanism is characterized by using a time-domain "compliance." The development of such time-domain compliance is based on simplified or unsimplified Rayleigh conductivity. Numerical simulations of two different configurations of lined duct systems are performed by combining a 1D acoustic wave model with the compliance model. Comparison is then made between the results from the present models, and those from the experiment and the frequency-domain model of previous investigation [Eldredge and Dowling, J. Fluid Mech. 485, 307-335(2003)]. Good agreement is observed. This confirms that the present model can be used to simulate the propagation and dissipation of acoustic plane waves in a lined duct in real-time.     

Vibration and damping analysis of multilayered rectangular plates with constrained viscoelastic layers

Governing equations of motion for vibrations of a general multilayered plate consisting of an arbitrary number of alternate stiff and soft layers of orthotropic materials are derived by using variational principles. Extension, bending and in-plane shear deformations in stiff layers and only transverse shear deformations in soft layers are considered as in conventional sandwich structural analysis. In addition to transverse inertia, longitudinal translatory and rotary inertias are included, as such analysis gives higher order modes of vibration and leads to accurate results for relatively thick plates. Vibration and damping analysis of rectangular simply supported plates consisting of alternate elastic and viscoelastic layers is carried out by taking a series solution and applying the correspondence principle of linear viscoelasticity. The damping effectiveness, in term of the system loss factor, for all families of modes for three-, five- and seven-layered plates is evaluated and its variations with geometrical and material property parameters are investigated.     

Measurement of relevant elastic and damping material properties in sandwich thick plates

An easy-to-implement method to measure relevant elastic and damping properties of the constituents of a sandwich structure, possibly with a heterogeneous core, is proposed. The method makes use of a one-point dynamical measurement on a thick-plate. The hysteretic model for each (possibly orthotropic) constituent is written generically as “E(1+jη)” for all mechanical parameters. The estimation method of the parameters relies on a mixed experimental/numerical procedure. The frequencies and dampings of the natural modes of the plate are obtained from experimental impulse responses by means of a high-resolution modal analysis technique. This allows for considerably more experimental data to be used. Numerical modes (frequencies, dampings, and modal shapes) are computed by means of an extended Rayleigh-Ritz procedure under the “light damping” hypothesis, for given values of the mechanical parameters. Minimising the differences between the modal characteristics yields an estimation of the values of the mechanical parameters describing the hysteretic behaviour. A sensitivity analysis assesses the reliability of the method for each parameter. Validations of the method are proposed by (a) applying it to virtual plates on which a finite-element model replaces the experimental modal analysis, (b) some comparisons with results obtained by static mechanical measurements, and (c) by comparing the results on different plates made of the same sandwich material.     

Optimum thickness distribution of unconstrained viscoelastic damping layer treatments for plates

This paper concerns the optimum thickness distribution of unconstrained viscoelastic damping layer treatments for plates. The system loss factor is expressed in terms of the mechanical properties of the plate and damping layer and the layer/plate thickness ratio. Optimum distributions of the thickness ratio that maximize the system loss factor are obtained through sequential unconstrained minimization techniques. Results are presented for both simply-supported and edge-fixed rectangular plates with aspect ratios of 1·0 to 4·0. These results indicate that the system loss factor can be increased by as much as 100%, or more, by optimizing the thickness distribution of the damping treatment. Also revealed are the regions of the plate where added damping treatments are most effective.     

Effects of hysteretic and aerodynamic damping on supersonic panel flutter of composite plates

The governing equation for the finite element analysis of the panel flutter of composite plates including structural damping is derived from Hamilton's principle. The first order shear deformable plate theory has been applied to structural modelling so as to obtain the finite element eigenvalue equation. The unsteady aerodynamic load in a supersonic flow is computed by using the linear piston theory. The critical dynamic pressures for composite plates have been calculated to investigate the effects of structural damping on flutter boundaries. The effects are dependent on fiber orientation because flutter mode can be weak or strong in the fiber orientation of composite plates. Structural damping plays an important role in flutter stability with low aerodynamic damping but would not affect the flutter boundary with high aerodynamic damping.     

Active suppression of radiating wavenumbers in the dynamic response of submerged plates

The sound radiated from an electrically excited piezoelectric plate is computed. Voltage distributions obtainable from an array of finite sized electrodes are used to examine the possibility of actively suppressing sound radiated at particular spatial wavenumbers. An application to canceling the reflection of a plane wave at oblique incidence is presented. The results presented here can also be found in Barbone & Braga (1992).Published in Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 36, No. 8, pp. 848–852, August, 1993.     

A real-time plane-wave decomposition algorithm for characterizing perforated liners damping at multiple mode frequencies

Perforated liners with a narrow frequency range are widely used as acoustic dampers to stabilize combustion systems. When the frequency of unstable modes present in the combustion system is within the effective frequency range, the liners can efficiently dissipate acoustic waves. The fraction of the incident waves being absorbed (known as power absorption coefficient) is generally used to characterize the liners damping. To estimate it, plane waves either side of the liners need to be decomposed and characterized. For this, a real-time algorithm is developed. Emphasis is being placed on its ability to online decompose plane waves at multiple mode frequencies. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated first in a numerical model with two unstable modes. It is then experimentally implemented in an acoustically driven pipe system with a lined section attached. The acoustic damping of perforated liners is continuously characterized in real-time. Comparison is then made between the results from the algorithm and those from the short-time fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based techniques, which are typically used in industry. It was found that the real-time algorithm allows faster tracking of the liners damping, even when the forcing frequency was suddenly changed.     

Identification of stiffness and damping properties of plates by using the local equation of motion

This paper deals with the identification of stiffness and damping properties of vibrating structures by an inverse method inspired from the Force Analysis Technique (FAT). The proposed approach uses a local equation of motion assumed a priori, which provides a relative straightforward relationship between the displacement field and material properties. The spatial derivatives of the displacement in the equation are calculated using finite differences. As this operation amplifies measurement noise, a regularization step is applied before solving the inverse problem. A procedure is proposed to automatically adjust the level of regularization. The method also allows one to identify local stiffness and damping on a heterogeneous structure. Illustrations for both homogeneous and heterogeneous cases are shown using simulated and measured displacement fields.     

The insertion loss of perforated porous plates in a duct without and with mean air flow

Measurements of the acoustic insertion loss of poroelastic plates with different perforation ratios, mounted transversely across a flow duct, without and with flow have been made at various locations in the duct. For the lower perforation ratio the insertion loss is found to be approximately 3 dB higher with air flow than without over the frequency range of the measurements. A parallel impedance model has been formulated to predict the effects of perforation on the insertion loss without flow. Measurements and predictions without flow have been found to be in reasonable agreement.     

An alternative to modal analysis for material stiffness and damping identification from vibrating plates

This paper presents an alternative to modal analysis to extract stiffness and damping parameters from thin vibrating plates. Full-field slope measurements are performed through a deflectometry technique on a plate vibrating at a given frequency. Images are recorded in phase and at π/2 lag from the excitation. From this information, deflection fields are computed by integration and curvature fields are obtained by differentiation. This information is then input into the principle of virtual work to extract both stiffness and damping parameters. This procedure, known as the Virtual Fields Method, is detailed in the paper and the notion of special optimized virtual fields is extended to the present problem. Validation on simulated data is performed before moving to experimental data. One of the main advantages of this technique is that it is completely insensitive to the damping coming from the boundary conditions. This is illustrated experimentally on two tests where a viscoelastic layer and rubber washers are added in the experimental set up.