A Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) model of a fuselage section for the prediction of the internal Sound Pressure Level (SPL) at cruise flight conditions

Comfort plays an increasingly important role in the interior design of airplanes. In general, comfort is defined as 'freedom from pain, well-being'; in scientific literature, indeed, it is defined as a pleasant state of physiological, psychological and physical harmony between a human being and the environment or a sense of subjective well-being. Cabin noise in passenger aircraft is one of the comfort parameter, which creates straightaway discomfort when exceeding personal thresholds. In general the cabin noise varies by the seat position and changes with flight condition. It is driven by several source types, which are transmitted through different transfer paths into the cabin. In the forward area the noise is mainly dominated by the turbulent boundary layer described by pressure vortexes traveling along the fuselage surface. In this paper evaluation of the Sound Pressure level, for the medium-high frequency range, of an aircraft fuselage section at different stations and locations inside the cabin has been performed numerically by using Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) method. Different configurations have been considered for the analysis: from the naked cabin (only primary structure) up to fully furnished (primary structure with interiors and noise control treatments) one. These results are essential to understand which are the main parameters affecting the noise insulation. Furthermore the Power Inputs evaluation has been determined to see the contribution of each considered aeronautic component on the acoustic insulation. Finally, the effect of a viscoelastic damping layer embedded in the glass window has been evaluated. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.