Vibro-acoustic modeling and validation using viscoelastic material

In aerospace industries, on-board electronics are carried during flight, and such equipment must be qualified to withstand the loads to which they are exposed. In this fashion, the knowledge of the different dynamic aspects of excitations and the behavior of structures, components and/or acoustic enclosures are crucial to have controlled and performing space systems. Passive control techniques using viscoelastic materials (VEM) are widely applied and their effects on space systems must be studied aiming to obtain adequate operational environments. The effect of damping insertion on the dynamic behavior of a vibro-acoustic system is assessed in this work. A coupled structural-acoustic system, composed by a VEM coated aluminum panel and an acoustic box, is modeled by Finite Element Method (FEM). On the other side, tests are preformed using the KU Leuven facilities to validate the FEM model. Numerical vs. experimental comparisons were done and acceptable agreement was obtained. On the other side, it was found that sound inside the box reduces due to the smaller sound radiation generated by the treated panel.