FREE-VIBRATION OF A THIN SPHERICAL-SHELL CONTAINING A COMPRESSIBLE FLUID

Free vibration of a thin spherical shell filled with a compressible fl uid is investigated. The interactions at the interface between the ela stic structure and the compressible fluid are taken into account. The objective of this study is to develop a hybrid numerical technique for the free vibration analysis of sound-structure interaction problems. The boundary element method is employed for modeling the acoustic dist urbances in the cavity, while the finite element method is used for mo deling the structural dynamics of the shell. The formulations are then combined into a coupled numerical scheme for the total pressure-displ acement field. Natural frequencies and mode shapes are calculated by u sing the singular value decomposition algorithm. Physical insights int o the resonance phenomena associated with sound-structure interactions are derived from the comparison between the results of the thin spher ical shell, with and without the fluid loading effect.