A novel hybrid ES-FE-SEA for mid-frequency prediction of Transmission losses in complex acoustic systems

The widely-used numerical modeling approaches such as the finite element method (FEM) and statistical energy analysis (SEA) often have limited applicability to the transmission loss prediction in mid frequency range. In this paper, a novel hybrid edge-based smoothed FEM coupled with statistical energy analysis (ES-FE-SEA) method is proposed to further improve the accuracy of mid-frequency transmission loss predictions. The application of ES-FEM will soften the well-known overly-stiff behavior in the standard FEM solution and reduce the inherent numerical dispersion error. While the SEA approach deals with the physical uncertainty in the relatively higher frequency range. The plate of interest is appropriately described by an ES-FEM model, due to its relative robustness to perturbations. Its adjacent reverberation cavities are modeled by employing the SEA approach, because of their high model density. The coupling and interaction between SEA subsystems and the FE subsystem is governed by the reciprocity relationship theorem. A standard numerical example for benchmarking is examined and excellent agreement was achieved between the prediction and reference results. The proposed ES-FE-SEA is also verified by various numerical examples. The method is finally applied to the modeling a complicated engineering problem-acoustic fields on both sides of the front windshield in a passenger car. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.