Vibro-acoustic Analysis Using a Hybrid Energy Finite Element /Boundary Element Method

A hybrid method is developed by combining energy finite element method (EFEM) and energy boundary element method (EBEM) to predict interior noise of structural-acoustic systems at high frequencies. In the hybrid EFEM/EBEM method, the structural domain of the system is modeled by structural finite elements, and the acoustic domain is modeled by acoustic boundary elements. The structural vibration response is computed from EFEM. The interior sound pressure level in the acoustic domain is recovered using EBEM. To validate the hybrid method, the interior noise levels in simplified airplane cabin and van models are computed and compared with that of EFEM only model. Good correlations are observed.