Sound transmission loss characteristics of four-side simply supported sandwich panels

In this study, a theoretical investigation on the sound transmission loss characteristics of four-side simply supported sandwich panels considering the flexural rigidity of the face sheet has been presented. With the flexural rigidity of the face sheet taken into account, the sound transmission problem of the sandwich panels is derived from the governing equation of bending vibration. The sound transmission loss expression is also derived. The validation of the theoretical prediction model is validated by comparing with the high-accuracy finite element and boundary element simulation. Numerical analysis shows that the flexural rigidity of face sheet influences the natural frequencies obviously, and the theoretical prediction model proposed has high accuracy on predicting the natural frequencies and sound transmission loss of four-side simply supported sandwich panels. The effects of the face sheet flexural rigidity, the thickness of face sheets and core layer, as well as the damping coefficient of the core on the sound transmission loss are systematically investigated.