Coupled vibro-acoustic model updating using frequency response functions

• A method for updating coupled vibro-acoustic FE models is proposed.
• The structural and the acoustic parameters can be simultaneously updated.
• The method is based on the vibro-acoustic frequency response functions.
• A numerical study on a 3D rectangular cavity with a flexible plate is presented.

Interior noise in cavities of motorized vehicles is of increasing significance due to the lightweight design of these structures. Accurate coupled vibro-acoustic FE models of such cavities are required so as to allow a reliable design and analysis. It is, however, experienced that the vibro-acoustic predictions using these models do not often correlate acceptably well with the experimental measurements and hence require model updating. Both the structural and the acoustic parameters addressing the stiffness as well as the damping modeling inaccuracies need to be considered simultaneously in the model updating framework in order to obtain an accurate estimate of these parameters. It is also noted that the acoustic absorption properties are generally frequency dependent. This makes use of modal data based methods for updating vibro-acoustic FE models difficult. In view of this, the present paper proposes a method based on vibro-acoustic frequency response functions that allow updating of a coupled FE model by considering simultaneously the parameters associated with both the structural as well as the acoustic model of the cavity. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through numerical studies on a 3D rectangular box cavity with a flexible plate. Updating parameters related to the material property, stiffness of joints between the plate and the rectangular cavity and the properties of absorbing surfaces of the acoustic cavity are considered. The robustness of the method under presence of noise is also studied.