SEC18: Proceedings of the 11th Structural Engineering Convention – 2018

Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, December 19 – 21, 2018

Paper No. 20180455

INTERIOR ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS OF ARBITRARY SHAPED RIGID

CAVITY WITH ABSORBENT LAYER
Dibyayati Sahana1, Subhankar Pramanik2 , Sreyashi Das3* and Arup Guha Niyogi4
1
PG student, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, INDIA, e-mail: [email protected]
2
Research Scholar, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, INDIA, e-mail: [email protected]
3*
Assistant Professor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, INDIA, e-mail: [email protected]
4
Professor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, INDIA, e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Nowadays the impact of noise on mankind and the society cannot be exaggerated. Mainly in the
transport sector the people are mostly exposed to high sound pressure level causing various health
hazards. The noise affects the drivers, passengers, as well as the neighbourhood. Hence there is a need
for sound monitoring. In this study the effect of absorbent layer on the sound pressure level at the
boundary and in the domain have been found out in an arbitrary shaped rigid enclosure. Boundary
element analysis is used to analyse this interior acoustic problem. Eight-noded isoparametric serendipity
elements are used to model the boundary. It was shown that the position of absorbent layers and the
frequency of sound affect the efficiency of absorbent layer. It is observed that use of absorbent layer is
not always beneficial in controlling the sound.

Keywords: Interior Acoustic, Rigid Cavity, Arbitrary Shape, Absorbent layer

reciprocating engines. The noise affects the

1. INTRODUCTION drivers, passengers, as well as the
neighbourhood. Hence there is a need for
In the present era of massive industrialisation controlling the sound. In 1989, Suzuki et al.[1]
around the globe, the need for acoustic analysed cavity noise problem for complicated
assessment cannot be exaggerated. The huge boundary conditions including absorbent layer
emphasis imparted on the research activities in and leakage surface. In 2006, Niyogi[2] had
these fields of acoustics is chiefly due to the analysed coupled structural acoustic problem
immense impact of noise on the healthy using absorbent layer through admittance
existence of mankind. Excessive exposure to relations. In 2009, Han et al.[3] predicted the
high sound pressure level (SPL) causes hearing absorption exponent in rectangular enclosures
damage along with other ailments like mental with a single absorbent boundary.
stress, physiological, endocrinal and In this present study sound pressure level at the
cardiovascular damages and even foetal boundary and within the domain of an arbitrary
disorders. It badly affects the level of mental shaped cavity have been found out. Boundary
concentration, quality of work, learning and element analysis (BEA) have been used [4, 5,
productivity. Apart from these, acoustic fatigue 6] to solve the acoustic cavity problem
may cause structural damage or even premature governed by wave equation, in frequency
failure and devaluation of property. domain. Eight-noded isoparametric serendipity
On the contrary, the consequences of a good elements are used to model the boundary. A
acoustic design are contentment, pleasure, pressure-velocity formulation is adopted to
safety and sound health for people and property. model the acoustic domain. It was tried to
The transport sector is a unique field where the control the sound pressure level using absorbent
vehicles are most frequently exposed to noise layer at different boundary.
hazards produced by the
 SEC18: Paper No. 20180455

2. THEORITICAL FORMULATION ur = ua − us (4)

The governing equation of a time harmonic

acoustic problem is given by the reduced wave The relation between the relative velocity, u r ,
(Helmholtz) equation, and the acoustic pressure, p, can be represented
through the experimentally obtained acoustic
(1) admittance term, Y, as [1]
Structural
Fluid velocity, velocity, us

Interior
(1) acoustic
pressure, p
Structural
Here, p is the acoustic pressure and k is the
boundary
wave number.
Absorbent Fig. 1: Moving boundary with
Assuming the surface is discretized into M layer with normal velocity us, with
number of eight-noded surface elements, the admittance, Y surface acoustic admittance Y
specified.
discretized form of boundary integral equation
[2] is given as
8 +1 +1
C ( p) p( P) +   
M
p *
( P, Q) N1 (1 ,  2 ) p1 J (1 ,  2 )d1d 2 =u r = Yp . Hence, u a = Yp + u s (5)
m=1 l =1 −1 =1 n
M 8 +1 +1 The value of the acoustic admittance is taken to
=    [−ip ( P, Q)]N ( ,  )v j( ,  )d d
m=1 l =1 −1 −1
*
1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2
be zero on surfaces without absorbent layer.
(2)
Each node of the BE mesh is used once as an 3. NUMERICAL RESULTS
observation point and a boundary element
equation is generated. Upon assembly of these A MATLAB program has been developed for
equations the system equation for the acoustic solving the acoustic cavity using BEM solver.
enclosure is found in the form of a set of linear
algebraic equations. 3.1 Validation example

H p = Guan  (3)

In this problem, the air inside a rigid container
of dimensions 1.8m x 0.6m x 0.6m, shown in
Fig. 2, acts as an interior acoustic domain. The
speed of sound, c, is taken to be 340m/s and the
The velocity terms in this equation are actually density of air, , is 1.20 kg/m3. The medium is
fluid particle velocity terms and not the excited by a sinusoidal motion of the left wall,
structural velocity terms. acting as a rigid piston, with velocity amplitude
of 0.001m/s. The responses are calculated at a
2.1 Accomodation of absorbent layers forcing frequency interval of 2 radian/s. Fig. 3
shows the sound pressure level (SPL) in
On rigid boundary, the measured amplitude of decibels (dB) (with a threshold pressure of
the fluid particle velocity normal to the 2x10-5 N/m2), computed analytically [7] and by
boundary is specified along with the forcing using boundary element method at the midpoint
frequency . Let us be the normal velocit1y of of the right wall, and also at the centre of the
the structural boundary as illustrated in Figure domain. The analytical solutions and numerical
1. Due to the presence of the absorbent material, results show very close conformity.
the magnitude of the fluid particle velocity, u a Analytically, the acoustic resonance at the right
, at the boundary is different from the structural boundary is scheduled to occur when
velocity. The relative fluid particle velocity, u r  = n c / L , where L is the length of the duct,
, referenced to structural surface is given by whereas, at the centre of the domain, the
resonance takes place at  = 2n c / L . For
 SEC18: Paper No. 20180455

30mm thick polyurethane foam is taken from

the studies of Suzuki et al. [1]. The SPL (dB) at
the boundary and at the domain are plotted in
Fig. 5a and Fig. 5b respectively.
Four cases are done.

i. No absorbent layer at any face of

the cavity
Fig. 2 Geometry of rectangular box ii. Absorbent layer provided at the top
face of the cavity
the present purpose, analytically, the resonance iii. Absorbent layer provided at the
at the right side boundary should occur at rightmost inclined wall
frequencies of 0, 593.412, 1186.824… radian/s iv. Absorbent layer provided at the
while, that occurs at the centre of the domain at front and back wall
0, 1186.824, 2373.648…radian/s. This is
evidently being observed in the BE solution.

Fig. 4 Geometry of rectangular box with

inclined face

From Fig. 5a and Fig. 5b, it is observed that the

peaks are visible at 628 rad/s and 1248 rad/s. At
both peaks, it is clear that addition of absorbent
layer reduces SPL to some extent. For example,
at 628 rad/s the SPL in dB for case i, ii, iii and
Fig. 3 SPL at Boundary (0.3, 1.8, 0.3) and at iv are 134.1, 126.3, 127.2 and 120.2
domain (0.3, 0.9, 0.3) respectively. Whereas those for 1248rad/s are
136.2, 132.6, 132.8 and 129.2. The position of
3.2 Case Study 1: Rectangular rigid absorbent layer plays a very important role in
cavity with one inclined plane reducing the SPL. In the present case when
absorbent layer is provided at front and back of
A rectangular cavity with one inclined plane as the cavity, the reduction in SPL is maximum.
shown in Fig.4 had been used to calculate the Also the effect of absorbent layer is prominent
sound pressure level (SPL). The bottom length in the first peak region. It is also observed that
of the cavity is 1.8m and the top length is 1.6m. the absorbent layer only plays its role at the
The cross-section is rectangular with each side resonant points. The same phenomenon is
0.6m. The left hand wall is set to execute simple observed in the domain. In domain at (0.3, 0.9,
harmonic motion where the velocity amplitude 0.3), the SPL at 628 rad/s are 111 dB, 103.1 dB,
is set at 0.001 m/s. The forcing frequency is 103.8 dB and 96.6 dB respectively for the above
limited to 1700 rad/s computed at an interval of mentioned four cases. At 1248rad/s the values
2 rad/s. The sound pressure level at the mid- are 129.0dB, 125.4dB, 125.5dB and 121.9dB
point of inclined plane P (0.3, 1.7, 0.3) and at respectively. It is observed that absorbent layer
the domain (0.3, 0.9, 0.3) was found out at the front and back face are more beneficial
numerically. Absorbent layers are provided at than other cases.
the faces of the cavity. The admittance of the
 SEC18: Paper No. 20180455

and the top length is 1.2m. The cross-section is

rectangular with each side 0.8m maintained till
1.2m of its length. The right hand vertical wall
is set to execute simple harmonic motion where
the velocity amplitude is set at 0.001 m/s. The
forcing frequency is limited to 1500 rad/s
computed at an interval of 2 rad/s. The sound
pressure level at the mid-point of left vertical
plane (0.4,0,0.4) and at the domain (0.3,0.9,0.3)
was found out numerically (Fig. 7a and Fig. 7b
respectively) with and without using absorbent
layers as in case study 1. Four cases are done.
i. No absorbent layer at any face of
the cavity
ii. Absorbent layer provided at the top
face of the cavity
Fig. 5a SPL at boundary (0.3, 1.7, 0.3) iii. Absorbent layer provided at the
leftmost vertical wall
iv. Absorbent layer provided at the
front and back wall

Fig. 6 Geometry of arbitrary rigid cavity

Fig. 5b SPL at domain (0.3, 0.9, 0.3)

3.3 Case Study 2: Rigid arbitrary

shaped cavity

In this study, an arbitrary shaped cavity as

shown in Fig.6 had been used for interior
acoustic problem for calculating sound pressure
level (SPL) at the boundary as well as at the
domain using boundary element analysis
(BEA). The bottom length of the cavity is 1.8m
 SEC18: Paper No. 20180455

From the graph (Fig. 7a) it is seen that that use Fig. 7b SPL at Domain (0.3, 0.9, 0.3)
of absorbent layer reduces SPL to a great extent
at resonant points i.e., 630 rad/s and 1180 rad/s, 4. CONCLUSION
when these are provided at front and back of the
cavity. At 630rad/s the SPL is 140.1dB without From the study it is seen that absorbent layers
absorbent layer whereas it reduces to 126.7dB play a very important role in reducing the sound
when provided at front and back of the cavity. pressure level if placed judiciously. In some
But surprisingly no benefit is seen when cases, a reduction more than 10dB also have
absorbent layer is provided at top of the cavity been observed. The behaviour of absorbent
for 630 rad/s. At 1180rad/s the SPL are 125.0 layers depends on cavity shape and is frequency
dB without any absorbent layer which reduces dependent. The reduction in SPL is most in low
to 123.6, 123.9 and 122.2 dB for case ii, iii and frequency region. At higher frequencies the
iv respectively. Benefit of using absorbent layer relative velocities of rigid wall and absorbent
is observed much more at first resonant point. cladding drops, thereby reducing effects of such
Similar phenomenon is observed in the domain. layers. Use of absorbent layer is beneficial only
At 630rad/s the SPL is 118.4dB without at resonant frequency region. The arbitrary
absorbent layer whereas it reduces to 105.1Db shape of cavity also modifies the SPL pattern
when provided at front and back of the cavity. when compared with regular shape. The study
indicates that though there could be significant
drop in SPL at resonant frequencies in certain
cases, it may not be always true that absorbent
layers reduce SPL. Hence numerical tests and
thereafter prototype tests are suggested to
achieve optimal benefits.

REFERENCES

[1] Suzuki, S., Maruyama, S., and H. Ido,

Boundary element analysis of cavity
noise problems with complicated
boundary conditions, J. Sound. Vib.,
130(1) 1989, pp. 79-91.

[2] Niyogi, A.G., Structural Acoustic

Problems with Absorbent Layers
Fig. 7a SPL at boundary (0.4, 0, 0.4) Within Laminated Composite
Enclosures, J. Vib. Acoust 128(6),
2006,705-712.

[3] Ning Han, Cheuk MingMak,

Prediction of the absorption exponent
in rectangular enclosures with a single
absorbent boundary, Applied
Acoustics, Volume 70, Issue 2,
February 2009, Pages 297-299.

[4] Kinsler, L.E., Frey, A.R., Coppens,

A.B., and Sanders, J.V.,
rd
“Fundamentals of Acoustics”, 3 Ed.,
John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1982.

[5] Brebbia, C.A., “The Boundary Element

Method for Engineers”, Pentech Press,
London, 1978.
 SEC18: Paper No. 20180455

[6] Seybert, A.F., T.W. Wu, W.L. Li,

Applications of the FEM and BEM in
structural acoustics, in Tanaka, M.,
Brebbia, C.A., Honma, T., (Eds.)
Boundary Elements BE XII, Vol.-2,
Applications in Fluid Mechanics and
Field Problems, CMP-Springer,
Verlag, 1990,pp. 171-182.

[7] Jayachandran, V., Hirsh, S.M., AND

Sun, J.Q., On The Numerical
Modelling Of Interior Sound Fields By
The Modal Function Expansion
Approach, Journal of sound and
Vibration (1998), 210(2), 243-254.