Archives of Acoustics

Abstract

This paper describes the boundary element method (BEM) and the experimental and optimisation studies conducted to understand the potential of expansion chamber coupled micro-perforated cylindrical panel (MPCP) in enhancing the acoustic attenuation for in-duct noise control issues. Owing to the complex structure of the MPCP and to achieve the correct prediction of acoustic attenuation, BEM is adopted on the basis of the Simcenter 3D software to compute the sound transmission loss (TL), As the MPCP is cylindrical in shape with numbers of sub-milimeter holes, additive manufacturing-based 3D printing is utilised for the model prototyping to reduce current design limitation and enable fast fabrication. The TL measurement-based two-load method is adopted for model validation. Subsequently, parametric studies of the MPCP concerning the perforation hole diameter, perforation ratio and depth of air space are carried out to investigate the acoustic performance. Optimisation via response surface method is used as it allows for evaluating the effects of multiple parameters as required in this study. The model validation result shows that the error between the BEM and the measured values is relatively small and shows good agreement. The R-square value is 0.89. The finding from the parametric studies shows that a wider peak attenuation can be achieved by reducing the perforation hole diameter, and one way to increase the TL amplitude is by increasing the air cavity depth. Finally, the optimised MPCP model is adopted to the commercial vacuum cleaner for verification. The sound pressure level of the vacuum cleaner is significantly attenuated within the objective frequency of 1.7 kHz.