This paper presents an analysis of the vibroacoustic response of a finite, simply supported rectangular plate covered by a layer of decoupling material and immersed in a heavy fluid. An exact formulation using the three-dimensional theory of elasticity for the decoupling material is derived for this problem, thereby extending previous studies that were limited to infinite plates. The paper details the constitutive equations of the problem and the analytical method of solution. Numerical results show that shear waves in the decoupling material generally have little influence on the sound radiation in the heavy fluid. Comparisons with a locally reacting model of the decoupling material and with the simple model of House [Proc. I.O.A. 13(3), 166-173 (1991)] are also presented.

The vibroacoustic behavior of an elastic, simply supported rectangular plate covered by a locally reacting decoupling layer supporting thickness deformation is presented. The model simulates the vibration and acoustic response of the system immersed in water and subjected to a point force disturbance. A simplified version of the theory is derived in the limiting case of a large decoupling (low mechanical impedance of the layer/high frequency). An appropriate vibratory indicator, representative of the acoustic attenuation provided by the decoupling treatment, and independent of the structure dimensions, is also investigated from the perspective of small-scale laboratory characterization.

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This paper presents a new hybrid method for predicting overestimating and underestimating indicators of the acoustic power radiated by a vibrating surface even in the presence of other surrounding acoustic sources. This method is applicable to plates or low curvature surfaces radiating in open acoustic fields. The method is hybrid in the sense that the vibration field is measured and the parietal pressure field is predicted considering two extreme academic cases "baffled" and "unbaffled." Many simplifications are made and justified in order to save running time. The method is successfully validated in comparison with experimental results on both laboratory and real life structures. This method has led to a quick tool, allowing one to obtain a good approximation of the radiated power in a few minutes. It provides a natural extension of a classical analyzer for vibroacoustics engineering.

Nowadays, acoustic quietening of manufactured products is gaining importance. Due to cost, severe weight and operational constraints, classical noise control techniques, although still usable, are becoming less attractive. Nowadays, engineers follow essentially two major approaches (i) reduce noise by passive means, design modifications of structures and systems (ii) reduce noise by active sound and vibration control. This paper is devoted to the structural acoustic design approach for which there are either some simple rules of thumb either huge numerical codes. The main objective of this paper is to bridge the gap between these two extremes. For the vibration response, the approach is based on a variational method. The basic structure is a plate with several degrees of complexity: added local or distributed masses, added local or distributed stiffeners, added stiffeners, added damping and constrained layer damping, force and moment type of excitations. The general trend has been to model an equivalent plate with two objectives in mind: (i) numerical calculations may be performed on a P.C., (ii) results are as close as possible to the exact solution. For the acoustic radiation, a novel approach has been used based on Berry’s idea (Berry, 1994) to develop the Green function in terms of a Taylor expansion. Analytical impedance functions may then be calculated for various aspect ratios and then extracted directly from files which allow considerable atime gains over any other rigorous approaches. The A.D.N.R. (Acoustic Design Noise Reduction) code has been validated through several experimental steps and agreement is revealed to be quite good. Not only is A.D.N.R. precise, but it also covers a wide frequency range (low, medium and high frequencies) which is really an advantage. The output data are diversified and among them we may cite: modal shape, operating deflection shape, quadratic velocity, radiation factor and overall sound power. In practice, A.D.N.R. revealed itself to be a great tool at the pre-design stage, when clear and quick trends are needed.