Sound Transmission Loss Analysis of an Automotive Dash by Finite Element Method

The acoustical performance of a vehicle dash system is determined by computing the sound transmission loss (STL) in the diffuse field. The determination of the sound transmission loss of the dash system is usually performed in the test laboratory with the anechoic chamber on the transmission side of the dash. Computational modeling of such system poses challenge due to the complexity of the material properties as well as geometry. In this paper, the transmission loss of a vehicle dash is calculated by using Finite element method. The dash system considered is a multilayer system consisting of elastic porous and elastic structural materials. The effects of different design parameters on the dash STL are investigated.