Some Studies on the Dynamic Response of Aluminum Cylindrical Shells Using Acoustic Excitation

Abstract

An understanding of the vibration and acoustic properties of cylindrical shells is vital if we are to solve noise problems in a wide range of practical applications, especially those that occur in pipes, ducts, aircraft fuselage and rockets. The focus of this study was thus to analyze the dynamic response and acoustic properties of cylindrical shells with different types of end cap configurations namely Flat Ends and Dome Ends. These structures were studied for Free-Free, Fixed-Free and Fixed-Translation boundary conditions. An experimental study was conducted in a reverberation chamber using acoustic excitation and the results compared with those obtained using a numerical model developed using MSC/Nastran and MSC/Patran. The results obtained from the numerical and experimental models were in good agreement, thus validating the numerical model.