Vibro-acoustic design of an aircraft-type active window, Part 1: dynamic modelling and experimental validation

Recent investigations show that active noise control methods can improve noise reduction capabilities of aircraft-type windows in the low-frequency region. Being a privileged path for external noise transmission and one of the main causes of high interior noise levels in a treated aircraft, a proper design of the aircraft window can significantly contribute to the reduction of cabin noise levels with a minimum impact on the aircraft mass and performances. This is the first part of two companion papers. In this paper (Part 1), the vibro-acoustic design of a triple-pane aircraft-type window prototype is presented. Numerical and experimental activities addressing the structural dynamics and the actuation performances are described in detail. The effectiveness of the piezo-stack actuators in the excitation of the flexural bending modes of the structure by means of adaptive in-plane and eccentric dynamic forces is experimentally investigated. An experimental modal analysis is carried out to determine both single partition and coupled fluid-structure modal frequencies used to validate the finite element model. For the purpose of estimating the sound radiation characteristics of the window prototype, a numerical procedure coupling boundary and finite element methods will be detailed in the second part of this paper (Part 2) to solve the coupled acoustic-structure problem in the exterior acoustic domain.