Optimal stiffener design for interior sound reduction using a topology optimization based approach

A topology optimization based approach is proposed to study the optimal configuration of stiffeners for the interior sound reduction. Since our design target is aimed at reducing the low frequency noise, a coupled acoustic-structural conservative system without damping effect is considered. Modal analysis method is used to evaluate the interior sound level for this coupled system. To formulate the topology optimization problem, a recently introduced Microstructure-based Design Domain Method (MDDM) is employed. Using the MDDM, the optimal stiffener configurations problem is treated as a material distribution problem and sensitivity analysis of the coupled system is derived analytically. The norm of acoustic excitation is used as the indicator of the interior sound level. The optimal stiffener design is obtained by solving this topology optimization problem using a sequential convex approximation method. Examples of acoustic box under single frequency excitation and a band of low frequency excitations are presented and discussed.