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Professor Peter Göransson, KTH Stockholm will give a seminar on 

Performance and Response Sensitivity of Multi-layered, Finite Size Panels with Anisotropic Poro-elastic Materials


Tuesday 18 February 2014, 2pm, Crossland Lecture Theatre, Parsons Building

Sustainable development in vehicle engineering design is often associated with weight savings, reduced aerodynamic drag, etc. in order to save natural resources with respect to material and energy. But, a strict lightweight design contradicts other functional requirements such as noise, vibrations, stability, safety etc. Within the Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design, these functional conflicts forms the basis for a research programme which combines a bottom-up and a top-down approach for identifying, directing and focusing research. 

It is common knowledge that the different elastic-anelastic, acoustic-viscoacoustic interaction mechanisms governing the behaviour of porous materials, in general exhibit different degrees of anisotropicity depending on the type of material and the inherent micro-structural build. The sensitivity in the response due to relative alignment of multiple layers of anisotropic open cell porous materials is investigated for finite sized panels with different edge restraints, etc. The acoustic response is evaluated through numerical experiments using Finite Element solutions. It will be shown that, depending on the degree of anisotropy of the porous material properties, their relative alignment may have a significant influence on the acoustic response. The influence of the boundary conditions between the layers and at interfaces to solid components will be illustrated. In the discussion the importance of the anisotropicity as such, and the alignment, of these mechanisms will be highlighted, contributing to the currently ongoing discussion of possible extra-ordinary behavior related to the propagation of sound and vibration energy.

Peter’s interests are numerical modeling of coupled acoustics and vibrations phenomena, with special focus on finite element modeling of damping mechanisms and efficient computational methods for highly damped, layered structures. He has been involved in a number of pioneering vibroacoustic modeling efforts, the Noise Attenuation for Launchers project (funded by Esa estec) which resulted in two large scale models for space craft fairings of ARIANE 4 and 5 types with satellite dynamic response included; the ASANCA project (funded by the European Commission) which resulted in a model of a Saab 340 fuselage cabin with interior trim modelled and a demonstration of the applicability of finite element modeling for the transmission of noise and vibrations in such a system; the BRAIN project (funded by the European Commission) which resulted in an important step forward in the elastoacoustic modelling of fibrous porous materials in the noise and vibration transmission through double wall structures with sound proofing. Recently he has embarked on the path towards sustainable design based on multi-functional structural components which are optimised to satisfy contradictory functional requirements, e.g. structural load carrying paired with acoustic performance at lowest weight, complexity, cost, environmental impact etc. This is part of the activities within the Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design.