Automotive panel noise contribution modeling based on finite element and measured structural-acoustic spectra

The radiated noise contributions of automotive body panels to the interior sound pressure levels are modeled using an approximate spectral formulation that applies the theoretical interior acoustic sensitivity terms derived from a finite element model and measured spatial-averaged structural-acoustic spectra. The finite element calculation is validated by comparison to a set of experimental acoustic transfer functions. A measurement set-up for the sound intensity and structural-acoustic response is applied to acquire the cross and auto power spectra needed to predict the relative mean-squared velocity term of each control plane near the panel surface, and to obtain the individual panel contribution function. The proposed approach also computes the noise spectra in 1/12 octave band form at selected positions in the passenger compartment, which matches well with the overall experimental results. Through an actual passenger car application, the approximate computational scheme is proven to be generally quite robust and effective for analyzing higher frequency interior noise problems. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.