A unified approach for the broadband vibroacoustic response of composite shells

A model for the prediction of the vibroacoustic performance of composite shells of various geometries within a statistical energy analysis (SEA) approach is developed hereby. The dispersion characteristics of composite orthotropic shell structures of a range of geometries, namely curved panels and cylindrical shells are predicted by a Wave Finite Element (WFE) Method. The mass and stiffness matrices of a structural segment are computed by a conventional finite element (FE) modelling and the wave propagation characteristics are derived by forming a polynomial eigenproblem whose eigenvalues correspond to structural wavenumbers. The numerical issues concerning the formation and the solution of this non-linear eigenproblem are discussed. The modal density and the radiation efficiency of the structure are then evaluated using its numerically extracted wave propagation characteristics. The broadband vibroacoustic response of each configuration under a reverberant field excitation can then be computed within an SEA approach.