Structural-acoustic modal coupling analysis and application to noise reduction in a vehicle passenger compartment

A practical method for noise reduction is proposed and is applied to the interior noise problem of a vehicle passenger compartment. The proposed method is based upon the structural-acoustic response model, in which the interior pressure is explicitly described in terms of the modal parameters and structural-acoustic modal coupling coefficients of the car body and compartment system. Considering only a few modes and modal coupling coefficients which have large contributions, the cause of the noise peal: can be easily identified and the reduction procedure can be simplified compared with the conventional finite element analysis method. In addition, the use of experimental data reduces some inevitable errors in the numerical analysis and refines the numerical predictions in noise problems. These procedures are carried out by using a user-friendly computer program (ACSTAP) which has been developed during the course of this study. (C) 1999 Academic Press.