Modeling the sound transmission through complex structures with attached noise control materials

This paper discusses three extensions of the Transfer Matrix Method (TMM). The first deals with the modeling of the transmission loss of sandwich-composite panels. A wave based model is recalled and used to derive a simpler model based on identifying effective properties of an equivalent orthotropic panel. An experimental case study is presented to show the accuracy of these models when used to predict practical sound transmission problems involving single wall sandwich-honeycomb panels and double wall sandwich-honeycomb with an absorbing material filling the cavity between the two panels. In the second extension, the use of the TMM to predict the response of panels under various types of excitations is discussed. A wave based method is presented and compared with Finite Element Method (FEM) predictions for two types of excitations: Turbulent Boundary Layer (TBL) and point source. The comparison shows that the method allows for accurate predictions of the frequency averaged Transmission Loss (TL). Finally, the use of the TMM to model double wall systems with mechanical links is presented and numerically validated using FEM. It is found that the method captures well the decrease of the TL due to the insertion of the links and the effect of the excitation nature on this decrease.