Transfer Path Analysis and Synthesis Using DOE Approach Based on Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Experimental Techniques

Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) is an important tool used worldwide to identify noise and vibration sources in vehicle(s). A complete TPA can be performed on proto-type vehicle or a fully built vehicle but it is time consuming and resource sensitive. New advancements in TPA include combining both acoustic and structural loads from stationary response functions and actual noise/vibration during operating conditions. So it is becoming important to define a known set of frequency response functions in order to understand vehicle's operational behavior.

In this paper, an attempt has been made to simulate vehicle cab from structural and acoustic viewpoint with the help of vibro-acoustic transfer functions. Vibro-acoustic modal parameters, vibration transfer functions (VTF) and Noise Transfer Functions (NTF) were predicted using FEA techniques. A set of experiments on a simple model was carried out to validate the predicted FE results. A new DOE technique has been developed to establish a methodology for finding out critical transfer paths and to rank them in the order of its energy transfer.