New analysis method for general acoustic-structural coupled systems

A new solution procedure has been developed for the analysis of the most general cases of vibro-acoustic problems, using a one-dimensional system as the model. The responses of the acoustic-structural coupled system with viscous and structural damping elements as well as absorbing material can be easily obtained. The solution algorithm utilizes the generalized orthogonality of the system eigenvectors to decouple the system matrix equation. The procedure is not only numerically efficient, but it also provides more insights to the system characteristics. The Sherman-Morrison formula is applied to the one-dimensional case, which reveals some interesting aspects of the effect of absorbing materials on the system response. The validity of the developed procedure is verified by comparing its results to the exact solutions. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited