A GENERAL OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY FOR SOUND POWER MINIMIZATION

A general approach for minimizing radiated acoustic power of a baffled plate excited by broad band harmonic excitation is given. The steps i nvolve a finite element discretization for expressing acoustic power a nd vibration analysis, analytical design sensitivity analysis, and the use of gradient-based optimization algorithms. Acoustic power express ions are derived from the Rayleigh integral for plates. A general meth odology is developed for computing design sensitivities using analytic al expressions. Results show that analytical sensitivity analysis is i mportant from both computational time and accurcy considerations. Appl ications of the optimization strategy to rectangular plates and an eng ine cover plate are presented. Thicknesses are chosen as design variab les.