Advanced numerical techniques for the acoustic modelling of materials and noise control devices in the exhaust system of internal combustion engines

Abstract

[EN] This Thesis is focused on the development and implementation of efficient numerical methods for the acoustic modelling and design of noise control devices in the exhaust system of combustion engines. Special attention is paid to automotive perforated dissipative silencers, in which significant differences are likely to appear in their acoustic behaviour, depending on the temperature variations within the absorbent material. Also, material heterogeneities can alter the silencer attenuation performance. Therefore, numerical techniques considering all these features are required to guarantee the accuracy of the results. A literature review is carried out, mainly related to one-dimensional models, as well as to acoustic models for absorbent materials and perforated surfaces. However, plane wave model limitations make indispensable using alternative multidimensional methods. In addition, the possibility of using new acoustic elements is explored. These elements have as an objective being a potential alternative to the fibrous absorbent materials, which can have a negative impact on health. The Thesis considers the use of microperforated and sintered surfaces. The latter have, in some cases, a nearly constant acoustic impedance, whose value depends, among others, on the thickness and porosity of the plates. To avoid the limitations of plane wave models, a finite element (FE) approach is proposed for the acoustic analysis of dissipative silencers including a perforated duct with uniform axial mean flow and an outer chamber with a heterogeneous distribution of the absorbent material. On the other hand, property variations can be also produced by temperature gradients. In this case, a hybrid FE model has been derived for perforated dissipative silencers including: (1) Thermal gradients in the central duct and the chamber; (2) A perforated passage carrying non-uniform axial mean flow. A FE approach has been implemented to solve the pressure-based wave equation for a non-moving heterogeneous medium, associated with the chamber. Also, the governing equation in the central duct has been written and solved in terms of an acoustic velocity potential to allow the presence of an axially inhomogeneous flow. The coupling between both regions has been carried out by means of a perforated duct and its acoustic impedance, adapted here to include absorbent material heterogeneities and mean flow effects. It has been found that the presence of non-homogeneities can have a significant influence on the acoustic attenuation of a silencer and should be included in the theoretical models. Optimization techniques for industrial noise control devices are relevant, since they lead to the production of elements with better characteristics. Evolutionary algorithms are emergent techniques able to obtain a solution, even in those problems in which the traditional optimization have difficulties. Optimization techniques are combined with the FE method to achieve the maximum attenuation in the frequency range of interest. A multichamber…