Feedback control strategies for active control of noise inside a 3-D vibro-acoustic cavity

Abstract

This paper presents and compares three feedback control strategies for active control of noise inside a 3-D vibro-acoustic cavity. These are a) control strategy based on direct output feedback (DOFB) b) control strategy based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) to reduce structural vibrations and c) LQR control strategy with a weighting scheme based on structural-acoustic coupling coefficients. The first two strategies are indirect control strategies in which noise reduction is achieved through active vibration control (AVC), termed as AVC-DOFB and AVC-LQR respectively. The third direct strategy is based on active structural-acoustic control (ASAC). This strategy is an LQR based optimal control strategy in which the coupling between the various structural and the acoustic modes is used to design the controller. The strategy is termed as ASAC-LQR. A numerical model of a 3-D rectangular box cavity with a flexible plate (glued with piezoelectric patches) and with other five surfaces treated rigid is developed using finite element (FE) method. A single pair of collocated piezoelectric patches is used for sensing the vibrations and applying control forces on the structure. A comparison of frequency response function (FRF) of structural nodal acceleration, acoustic nodal pressure, and piezoelectric actuation voltage is carried out. It is found that the AVC-DOFB control strategy gives equal importance to all the modes. The AVC-LQR control strategy tries to consume the control effort to damp all the structural modes. It is seen that the ASAC-LQR control strategy utilizes the control effort more intelligently by adding higher damping to those structural modes that matter more for reducing the interior noise.