Application of the Wave and Finite Element Method to Calculate Sound Transmission Through Cylindrical Structures

Abstract

This paper concerns the prediction of sound transmission through a cylindrical structure. The problem considered is that of sound generated by a line source located exterior to a two-dimensional circular cylinder which produces sound waves which transmit through the cylinder to an internal medium. An analytical solution is presented for the case of sound transmission through a thin cylindrical shell, by modelling the shell response using the Flugge- Byrne-Lur'ye equations. This solution is then compared to calculations where the response of the cylinder is calculated using the Wave and Finite Element (WFE) method. The WFE method involves modelling a small segment of a structure using traditional finite element (FE) methods. The mass and stiffness matrices of the segment are then used to calculate the response of the structure to excitation by an acoustic field. The WFE approach for calculating sound transmission is validated by comparison with the analytic solution. Formulating analytic solutions for more complicated structures can be cumbersome whereas using a numerical technique, such as the WFE method, is relatively straightforward.