Introduction to Acoustics

Acoustics ACTx R150

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Acoustics ACTx

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Acoustics ACT Extension

Expose 3D acoustic features in Mechanical without the need for APDL
Define acoustics properties
Apply acoustic boundary conditions & loads
Postprocess acoustic results

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ACT: Application Customization Toolkit

ACT allows customization in the Mechanical application :
Replace command snippets with interactive objects
Create customized Loads / BCs
Create customized Results
Ability to connect a third party solver in a standard Workbench process
ACT Acoustics extension is a customization made with ACT to integrate
ANSYS acoustics capabilities in Mechanical. The extension consists of one
XML file (Configures the UI content) and one python script (Implements
the extension functionality).
If you need more information about ACT please contact your sales
representative.

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ACT Extension Library

ANSYS Customer Portal
support.ansys.com
A library of helpful ACT extensions
available to any ANSYS customer
Roughly one dozen available
More being added continually

Great place to get started

Extensions made available in either
binary format (.wbex file) or binary plus
scripted format (python and XML files)
Scripted extensions are great examples
Links to ACT documentation and training
material
Goals for an ACT developers forum
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Download the Acoustics ACT Extension

The Acoustics ACT Extension for ANSYS 15.0 is available for
download on the ACT Extension Library of the Customer Portal:

https://support.ansys.com/AnsysCustomerPortal/en_us/Downloads/Extens
ion+Library/ACT+Library

Please pay attention to paragraph 9 of the CLICKWRAP

SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR ACS EXTENSIONS
regarding TECHNICAL ENHANCEMENTS AND CUSTOMER
SUPPORT (TECS): TECS is not included with the Program(s).
So to report an issue or provide your feedback in regards to
this extension please contact:
David Roche:
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david.roche@ansys.com

Installing ACT Extensions

Installing from WB Project page:
1. Select the Install Extension option
2. It will open a file dialog to select a *.wbex file
3. The extension is installed

In order to work properly please note English language in WorkBench have to

be chosen.
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Acoustics ACT Extension

ACT Acoustics extension can be used to create acoustic boundary
conditions and defining fluid bodies (elements & material
properties):

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Introduction to
Acoustics

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Applications
Acoustics is the study of the generation, propagation, absorption, and
reflection of sound pressure waves in a fluid medium. Applications for
acoustics include the following:

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Sonar - the acoustic counterpart of radar

Design of concert halls, where an even distribution of sound pressure is

desired

Noise minimization in machine shops

Noise cancellation in automobiles

Underwater acoustics

Design of speakers, speaker housings, acoustic filters, mufflers, and many

other similar devices.

Geophysical exploration

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Acoustic Analysis
An acoustic analysis, available in the ANSYS Multiphysics and ANSYS
Mechanical programs only, usually involves modeling the fluid medium and
the surrounding structure. Typical quantities of interest are the pressure
distribution in the fluid at different frequencies, pressure gradient, particle
velocity, the sound pressure level, as well as, scattering, diffraction,
transmission, radiation, attenuation, and dispersion of acoustic waves.

A coupled acoustic analysis takes the fluid-structure interaction into account.

An uncoupled acoustic analysis models only the fluid and ignores any fluidstructure interaction.
The program assumes that the fluid is compressible, but allows only relatively
small pressure changes with respect to the mean pressure. Also, the fluid is
assumed to be non-flowing.
The pressure solution is the deviation from the mean pressure, not the
absolute pressure.

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Sound
Noise can be defined as " undesired sound or disagreeable.
From the acoustics point of view, sound and noise constitute the
same phenomenon of atmospheric pressure fluctuations about the
mean atmospheric pressure. The differentiation is greatly
subjective.
Sound (or noise) is the result of pressure variations, or oscillations,
in an elastic medium (e.g., air, water, solids), generated by a
vibrating surface, or turbulent fluid flow. Sound propagates in the
form of longitudinal (as opposed to transverse) waves, involving a
succession of compressions and rarefactions in the elastic medium.
When a sound wave propagates in air, the oscillations in pressure
are above and below the mean pressure.

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Acoustics Variables
As sound propagates through air (or any elastic medium), it causes
measurable fluctuations in pressure, velocity, temperature and density. We
can describe the physical state in terms of mean (steady state) values and
small fluctuations about that mean.

For our purposes in acoustics and noise control, all we care about is the
fluctuating portion.

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Physical

Quantity State

Variable Units

Pressure

Ptotal = P + p(r,t)

Pascals

Velocity

Utotal = U + u(r,t)

meters/second

Temperature

Ttotal = T + (r,t)

Celsius

Density

total = + (r,t)

kg/m3

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Sound waves
The sound travels in space. There is energy transport but
there is no net transfer of mass. Each particle in the fluid
moves back and forth about one position. In general,
sound waves in any medium can be a mixture of
longitudinal and shear waves, depending primarily on
the boundary conditions.
Longitudinal Wave Simplest type of wave is compressional (or
longitudinal wave) where the particle oscillation is in the same
direction as the energy transport. The disturbance propagates in
the direction of the particle motion. This is the predominant
mechanism in fluids and gases because shear stresses are
negligible.
Shear Wave The particle motion direction is orthogonal
(perpendicular) to direction in which the disturbance (and the
energy) propagates. In solids, you can have transverse shear
and torsional waves. Bending waves (in a beam or plate), and
water waves are a mixture of shear and longitudinal waves.
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Speed of sound
For a longitudinal wave in an unbounded medium, sound travels at a speed of c:
=

E = Youngs modulus for a solid material, or the bulk modulus for a fluid
= density of the material
V=Volume

In normal gases, at audible frequencies, the pressure fluctuations occur under

essentially adiabatic conditions (no heat is transferred between adjacent gas
particles). Speed of sound then becomes:
=

where : =Cp/Cv=1.4 for air and P =RT (Ideal Gas Law)

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Wave length
In acoustics we define the wavelength as the distance between
repeating features of the wave:
2

c

Pressure

Wavelength
0.9

-0.1
0

-1.1

10

12

Distance - x

The time for wave to repeat (its period): T 1 2

f

Pressure

Period T
0.9
-0.1
0

-1.1

10

12

Time - t

Another useful equation which relates frequency to wavelength is: c = f

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Units & Levels

Human response to sound is roughly proportional to the logarithm of sound
power. A logarithmic level (measured in decibels or dB) is:
=

An increase in 1 dB is the minimum increment necessary for a noticeably

louder sound.
Other quantities of interest in acoustics are the sound power level and the
sound pressure level.

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Sound Intensity Level:

Sound Pressure Level:

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Sound Pressure Levels

The range of audible sound ranges from approximately 1
to 140 dB, although everyday sounds rarely rise above
about 120 dB. The chart below shows typical noise levels
of common noise sources.

Sound Sources
Jet Tackoff, Artillery fire

Qualitative Descriptions

Sound Pressure level (dB)

Intolerable

140

Rock group, Trail bike

Discotheque, Inside subway train
Noisy urban daytime

120
very noisy

100

noisy

80

Conversation at 1 meter
Quiet urban nighttime, whisper
Recording studio

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60
quiet

40

very quiet

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Frequency Weighting
The human ear responds more to frequencies
between 500 Hz and 8 kHz and is less sensitive
to very low-pitch or high-pitch noises. The
frequency weightings used in sound level
meters are often related to the response of
the human ear, to ensure that the meter is
measuring pretty much what you actually
hear.
The most common weighting that is used in
noise measurement is A-Weighting. Like the
human ear, this effectively cuts off the lower
and higher frequencies that the average
person cannot hear.

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Directivity
Most sources do not radiate equally in all directions. Example a circular
piston in an infinite baffle (which is a good approximation of a loudspeaker).

Piston

Define a directivity factor Q (called D in some references):

where:
P = actual rms sound pressure at angle
PS = rms sound pressure of a uniform point source radiating the same total
power W as the actual source

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Acoustic Energy Dissipation

All acoustic energy is dissipated into thermal energy.
Dissipation is often very slow and it can be ignored for small
distances or short times.

Sources of dissipation are due to:

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Losses at the boundaries (relevant for porous materials,

thin ducts, and small rooms)

Losses in the medium (important when the volume of uid

is large). Here, the losses are associated with:
viscosity
heat conduction

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Impedance & Reflection coefficient

A useful quantity in acoustics is impedance. It is a measure of the
amount by which the motion induced by a pressure applied to a surface
is impeded. Or in other words: a measure of the lumpiness of the
surface. Since frictional forces are, by and large, proportional to velocity,
a natural choice for this measure is the ratio between pressure and
velocity:
Z

p
u

If we define the reflection coefficient R:

p Z 0 c0
R
p
Z 0 c0

The impedance with no reflection (of a plane wave) is thus:

Z 0 c0

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Sound Absorption
As sound strikes a wall, some of it is reflected, while some is absorbed by
the wall. A measure of that absorption is the absorption coefficient ,
defined as:
I
I
I
absorbed incident reflected
I incident
I incident

Incident
Transmitted
Reflected

While some of the absorbed sound is dissipated as heat in the material,

some re-radiates from the other side. The amount of energy that gets into
the next room is quantified by the transmission coefficient:
I
transmited
I incident

Absorption can be obtained by three primary mechanisms:

porous materials,
panel resonators or
volume resonators
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Quarter Wave Resonator

Quarter wave tubes are commonly used in applications such as air
intake induction system on engines, pump pulsation abatement, and
other narrow band noise mitigation applications. The length of a
quarter wave tube is a quarter of a wavelength of the noise it is tuned
to. The acoustic wave travels down the quarter wave tube and back,
travelling half the wavelength which in turn experiencing 180 degree
phase shift interfering with the incoming acoustic wave, destructively,
abating the target noise.

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Helmholtz Resonator
Helmholtz resonator is a side branch acoustic absorber.
Its make-up consists of a rigid cavity communicating with the
external medium through a port (neck). The fluid in the
resembles a mechanical mass element. The pressure in the
cavity changes by the influx and efflux of fluid through the
neck, making the cavity to act as a spring element. The breakup of vortices created in the shear layer dissipates energy,
acting as a damper.

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Impedance & Absorption coefficient

There are different ways to determine the impedance or
the absorption coefficient of a material:

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Free field methods under anechoic conditions

Reverberant field methods

Impedance tube methods

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What is the difference between an

absorbing material and a barrier material?
The two important noise-related quantities of a material are:
Ability to absorb acoustic energy -
Ability to reflect or block sound energy - STL or
Good absorbing materials allow sound pressure fluctuations to enter their
surface and dissipate energy by air friction. The are generally porous and
lightweight, such as fiberglass, open cell foam, or acoustical ceiling tiles. Good
barrier materials reflect sound, and are dense and nonporous (concrete, lead,
steel, brick, glass, gypsum board). In general, a single homogeneous material
will not be both a good absorber and a barrier. Fiberglass insulation makes a
terrible barrier, and a sealed concrete wall has virtually no absorption. To get
the best of both worlds, it is common to see an absorbing layer laminated to a
barrier material, for instance a layer of gypsum board and a layer of fiberglass,
or loaded vinyl laminated to open cell foam.
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Boundary Conditions
There are three different types of boundary conditions in Acoustics:

Dirichlet condition:
Homogeneous (Open tube: Sound Soft Boundary): p 0
Inhomogeneous (Applied pressure): p P

Neumann condition:
Homogeneous (Closed tube: Sound Hard Boundary):
Inhomogeneous (Velocity excitation):

v V

p
0
x

v0

1 p
j x

Robin condition (Given admittance): p j 0Yp

x

Note: By default the natural boundary condition is acoustics corresponds

to a rigid wall.
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Sloshing
In fluid dynamics, slosh refers to the movement of liquid inside another
object (which is, typically, also undergoing motion). Strictly speaking,
the liquid must have a free surface to constitute a slosh
dynamics problem, where the dynamics of the liquid can interact with
the container to alter the system dynamics significantly.
Important examples include propellant slosh in spacecraft tanks
and rockets (especially upper stages), and cargo slosh in ships and
trucks transporting liquids (for example oil and gasoline).

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Sloshing in a rigid tank

Mode 1

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Mode 2

Mode 3

Sloshing Modes

Analytical

Numerical

Mode 1

0.88 Hz

0.8819 Hz

Mode 2

1.05 Hz

1.0506 Hz

Mode 3

1.25 Hz

1.2496 Hz

Mode 4

1.32 Hz

1.3213 Hz

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Mode 4

Understanding Acoustic Analysis

Terminology
The following common terms are used throughout this guide:

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Interior problem: The sound wave oscillates in an enclosure or propagates to the

infinity in a constrained structure

Exterior problem: The sound wave radiates or is scattered into the infinite open space

Coupled element: Acoustic element with FSI interface

Uncoupled element: Acoustic element without FSI interface

PML: Perfectly matched layers

Sound-hard surface: A surface on which particle normal velocity is zero

Sound-soft surface: A surface on which sound pressure is constrained

Transparent port: An exterior surface on which incident pressure is launched into the
acoustic model and the reflected pressure wave is fully absorbed by a defined matched
impedance that represents the infinity

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Governing Equations

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Governing Equations
In acoustic fluid-structural interaction (FSI) problems, the structural dynamics
equation must be considered along with the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid
momentum and the flow continuity equation. The discretized structural
dynamics equation can be formulated using the structural elements. The fluid
momentum (Navier-Stokes) equations and continuity equations are simplified
to get the acoustic wave equation using the following assumptions:

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The fluid is compressible (density changes due to pressure variations).

There is no mean flow of the fluid.

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Governing Equations
Since the viscous dissipation has been taken in account using the Stokes
hypothesis, the wave equation is referred to as the lossy wave equation
for propagation of sound in fluids. The discretized structural and the lossy
wave must be considered simultaneously in FSI problems.
The acoustic pressure exerting on the structure at the FSI interface will be
considered in Derivation of Acoustics matrices to form the coupling
stiffness matrix.
Harmonically varying pressure is given by:

pr , t Re pr e jt

The wave equation is reduced to the following inhomogeneous Helmholtz

equation:

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Governing Equations
The finite element formulation is obtained by testing wave using
the Galerkin procedure. The wave equation is multiplied by
testing function w and integrated over the volume of the with
some manipulation to yield the following:

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Governing Equations
From the equation of momentum conservation, the normal velocity on the
boundary of the acoustic domain is given by:

The weak form of equation is given by:

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Governing Equations
The normal acceleration of the fluid particle can be presented using the
normal displacement of the fluid particle, given by:

After using the above equation:

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Derivation of Acoustic Matrices

Other terms are defined in Acoustic Fundamentals. The wave equation
can be written in matrix notation to create the following discretized
wave equation:

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Analysis Types

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Analysis Types
In Acoustics we can currently perform three different types
of analysis:

Modal Analysis (frequency domain)

Harmonic Response Analysis (frequency domain)

Transient Analysis (time domain)

These analysis can be resolved as pure acoustic problem as

well as vibro-acoustic simulation.

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Modal Analyses

The goal of modal analyses is to determine frequencies

and standing wave patterns within a structure

We have the ability to include impedance and interaction

with structure (FSI)

Block Lanczos, Damped, Subspace and unsymmetric

eigensolvers are available

Image on the right

shows standing
wave patterns in
an acoustic cavity

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Harmonic Response Analyses

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The objective of harmonic analyses is to calculate response of

system as a function of frequency based on volumetric flow
rate or pressure excitation

Plot of transmission loss on bottom left, sound waves in a room

shown on right.

Support Full Harmonic only

Sparse, QMR and ICCG solvers are available.

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Transient Analyses

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Transient simulations allow to investigate time-dependent

response of system

Example of time-history pressure plot showing beat

phenomenon on left, acoustic waves generated from offshore
pile driving on right (courtesy of MENCK)

Support Full Transient only

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Acoustic Material
Properties

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Mass Density & Sound Speed

The wave equation resolved in acoustic simulation
requires mass density and sound velocity of the fluid
media.
Thus these properties have to be inputted for the
acoustic domains. An acoustic domain is defined with the
Acoustic Body object. Man can then scope the bodies
representing the fluid domain and input the mass density
and the sound velocity:

Note: MAPDL commands:

MP,,DENS & MP,,SONC
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Acoustic Viscosity
Viscosity is the degree to which a fluid resists flow. The acoustic
media can sometimes be viscous (water, oil). In this case the
wave equation must be modified to include the bulk viscosity
term.
Governing equation
Momentum and mass conservation equation

va
4

0
pa ( B )( va )
0 va
t

2nd order acoustic pressure equation

1 2 pa
4
1 pa
( pa )

(
)] 0
2
2
2
0
0c0 t
30 0c0 t
1

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Acoustic Viscosity

Transmission Loss (dB)

The viscosity introduces a dissipative effect in the acoustic media

as illustrated below:
Transmission Loss
40

30
20

No Viscosity

10

Viscosity

0
500

1000

1500

Frequency (Hz)

The dynamic viscosity (Pa.s) can be inputted in the detail

properties of the Acoustics Body:

Note: MAPDL command: MP,,VISC

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Temperature Dependent Properties

It is possible to define temperature varying material properties.
In this goal you can set the Temperature Dependency of the
Acoustics Body to Yes. Thus the material properties will
become tabular data as illustrated below:

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Non Uniform Acoustic

Media

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Non-uniform Acoustic Media

The speed of sound is variable and depends on the properties of the
substance through which the wave is travelling. In fluids, only the
medium's compressibility and density are the important factors.
Adiabatic compressibility is directly related to
pressure through the heat capacity ratio
(adiabatic index), and pressure and density are
inversely related at a given temperature and
composition, thus making only the latter
independent properties (temperature,
molecular composition, and heat capacity ratio)
important. At a constant temperature, the ideal
gas pressure has no effect on the speed of
sound, because pressure and density (also
proportional to pressure) have equal but
opposite effects on the speed of sound, and the
two contributions cancel out exactly.
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Non-uniform Acoustic Media

In non-uniform acoustic media the mass density and sound speed vary
with the spatial position.
The wave equation in lossless media is written by:
1
1
2 p

Q
(

(
p)
2
)
0 (r )
0 (r )c (r ) t 2
t 0 (r )

According to the ideal gas law the equation of state and the speed of
sound in an ideal gas are given by:

c 2 (r ) RT (r )

Pstate (r ) (r ) RT (r )

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Non-uniform Acoustic Media

Assuming the density 0 and sound speed c0 at the reference
temperature T0 (inputted as the Environment Temperature) and the
reference static pressure (inputted in the properties of the Acoustics
Body) casts the density and sound speed in media as follow:

c( x) c0

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T ( x)
T0

pstate ( x) 0T0
; ( x)
T ( x) pstate , 0

Non-Uniform Acoustic Medium

Man can see the evolution of the sound speed in the
acoustic media for a spatial variation of the temperature of
the fluid:

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Non-Uniform Acoustic Medium

Step change in temperature shown on left, which

affects propellant properties. Modal analysis
predicts correct results
C.L. Oberg, N.W. Ryan, A.D. Baer, A Study of T-Burner
Behavior, AIAA Journal, Vol. 6, No. 6, pp 1131-1137.

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ACT Acoustics Extension

The thermal condition can be applied on bodies using the Acoustics
Temperature object available in the Loads drop down menu :

Note: MAPDL command: BF,,TEMP, value

The static pressure can be applied on bodies using the Acoustics Static
Pressure object available in the Loads drop down menu :

Note: MAPDL command: BF,,CHRGD, value

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Mesh Requirement

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Meshing Guidelines
The mesh should be fine enough to capture the mode shapes of the
structure.
For linear elements, at least 12 elements per wavelength are needed,
while 6 elements per wavelength are needed for quadratic elements.

Wavelength:

c
f

Also note that all acoustic domain must be mesh connected

(nonconformed mesh not supported for acoustic domains).
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Solving Fluid-Structure
Interaction (FSI)

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Acoustic Structure Coupling

If you want to take into account the fluid-structure interaction (pressure
waves generated by the structure vibration or/and structure deformation
due to fluid pressure) you can use coupled acoustic analysis.
Then the interaction of the fluid and the structure at a mesh interface
causes the acoustic pressure to exert a force applied to the structure and
the structural motions produce an effective "fluid load." The governing
finite element matrix equations then become:

The analyses available with FSI are modal (symmetric & unsymmetric
algorithm), harmonic (symmetric & unsymmetric algorithm) and transient
(unsymmetric algorithm).

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Acoustic Structure Coupling

The interaction of the fluid and the structure at a mesh interface causes the
acoustic pressure to exert a force applied to the structure and the structural
motions produce an effective "fluid load." The governing finite element matrix
equations then become:
[R] is a "coupling" matrix that represents the effective surface area associated
with each node on the fluid-structure interface (FSI). The coupling matrix [R]
also takes into account the direction of the normal vector defined for each
pair of coincident fluid and structural element faces that comprises the
interface surface. The positive direction of the normal vector, as the program
uses it, is defined to be outward from the fluid mesh and in towards the
structure. Both the structural and fluid load quantities that are produced at
the fluid-structure interface are functions of unknown nodal degrees of
freedom. Placing these unknown "load" quantities on the left hand side of the
equations and combining the two equations into a single equation produces
the following:
The foregoing equation implies that nodes on a fluid-structure interface have
both displacement and pressure degrees of freedom.

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Acoustic Structure Coupling

There are different approaches to define acoustic structure coupling
depending of the vibro-acoustic analysis:
For modal analyses: Uncoupled, Coupled with symmetric algorithm,
Coupled with Unsymmetric algorithm
For harmonic analyses: Uncoupled, Coupled with symmetric algorithm,
Coupled with Unsymmetric algorithm
For transient analyses: Uncoupled, Coupled with Unsymmetric algorithm
The default approach is to use unsymmetric matrices but in V13 we
introduced a more efficient symmetry formulation (for modal and harmonic).
With unsymmetric matrices we required twice of much memory because we
need to store the full matrix and not only the upper triangular half so the
memory required doubled and also the CPU time increases maybe about 1.5
time. So with the symmetric formulation this allow to maintain the symmetric
nature of the matrices so the memory requirement doesnt double and the
CPU time doesnt increase.
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Acoustic Structure Coupling

Symmetric formulation:

All the elements in the model must use the symmetric formulation

Unsymmetric formulation:

In this case its possible to use both unsymmetric and uncoupled

formulations. The best solution here in terms of number of DOF to
compute is to create a single of layer of elements using unsymmetric
algorithm at the FSI boundary and use uncoupled algorithm for all
other elements.

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ACT Acoustics Extension

The coupling algorithm is chosen in the properties of
the Acoustic Body depending on the analysis type:

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ACT Acoustics Extension

The FSI interfaces correspond to the acoustic domain faces in contact
with structure bodies (where pressure are transferred to the structure).
The acoustic Fluid-Structure interface can be identified using the FSI
Interface object available in the Boundary Conditions drop down
menu.

Note: MAPDL command: SF,,FSI,1

Its worth noting that if no FSI flags defined, MAPDL solver will try to
automatically detect FSI surfaces. However, its good practice to define
FSI manually.
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Structure/Fluid domains connection

The displacements of the structure can be transferred to the
fluid domain using a connected mesh or contact regions.
Please note that when you perform vibroacoustic analyses,
it is strongly recommended to use a multibody part
definition rather than contact.
Also, the acoustic fluid side should generally be the contact
side. MPC contact works better than penalty-based,
although if you have Contact Regions sharing an edge, you
can get overconstraints. That is why using a multibody part
is best to get accurate results.

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Automatic creation of
boundary conditions

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Structure/Fluid domains connection

Clicking on this button will create an FSI Interface object

scoped on all faces used by contact regions and belonging to
the defined acoustic bodies (Fluid-Structure interface faces of
the acoustics side when contact is used between acoustic and
structural domains).

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Automatic creation of BC
This tool is used to automatically
create boundary conditions & loads based of the existing named
selections. When the button is pressed its checked for each
named selection if it contains one of the following keyword. If its
the case the corresponding object is created scoped on this named
selection.
Keyword
acousticbody
normalvelocity
normalacceleration
masssource
massrate
surfacevelocity
surfaceacceleration
staticpressure
impsheet
temperature
pressure
impedance
thermovisc
free
fsi
radiation
absorbingelem
attenuation
plot

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Corresponding Object
Acoustic Body
Normal Surface Velocity
Normal Surface Acceleration
Mass Source
Mass Source Rate
Surface Velocity
Surface Acceleration
Static Pressure
Impedance Sheet
Temperature
Acoustic Pressure
Impedance Boundary
Thermo-viscous BLI Boundary
Free Surface
FSI Interface
Radiation Boundary
Absorbing Elements
Attenuation Surface
Acoustic Time_Frequency Plot

March 4, 2014

Applications

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2011 ANSYS, Inc.

March 4, 2014

Underwater Example

70

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March 4, 2014

Speaker Example

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2011 ANSYS, Inc.

March 4, 2014