SBIR-STTR Award

There is an increased emphasis on the acoustic signatures of ground combat vehicles due to the development of new and effective acoustic target acquisition systems. During the design stage of a ground combat vehicle, it is important to reduce the noise, emitted from structural components. Therefore, the development of acoustic prediction software is essential. Within this project, theoretical techniques for acoustic prediction and acoustic sensitivities will be developed, and implemented into acoustic software. The software will be verified by comparing results to analytically available exact solutions and test data. The developed software will be capable of accepting information from current finite element analysis models with a known input forcing function. It will use this information to accurately predict the noise radiated from the vibrating structure. The computer code will be a valuable tool in designing structural components with improved noise characteristics, because it will eliminate the requirement to actually test the structure, in order to find the effect of the modifications in the emitted noise. It is anticipated that the ability to study many alternative designs quickly and economically can lead to significant noise reduction.

During the design stage of a ground combat vehicle it is important to reduce the noise emitted from structural components. The proposed Phase II effort has dual objective of technology transfer to TACOM and development of the Energy Flow Method. State-of-the-art software will be acquired and installed on a workstation at TACOM. Training on modeling techniques, structural and acoustics analysis. It is a unique method initiated by Purdue University. It employs the energy variation as variable. This results in combining the benefits of the finite element/boundary element methods with those of statistical energy. It can solve interior acoustics and radiation problems. It offers spatial discretization and is applicable in low and high frequencies, for single frequency or broadband excitation. The geometry of the problem is accounted, allowing to use a small size model to represent a complex system without losing information. In this Phase II effort the element and joint libraries will be completed and implemented into commercial quality software. This new product can be readily used in the design of combat vehicles, and also marketed by the proposing firm.