The harmful effects of aircraft noise, with respect to both comfort and occupational health, have long since been recognised, with many examples of sound control now implemented in commercial aircraft. However, the single engine light aircraft cabin is still an extremely noisy environment, which apparently has been side-lined by both cost and weight constraints, especially with respect to low frequency sound reduction. Consequently, pilots and passengers of these aircraft are still exposed to potentially damaging noise levels and hearing damage can only be avoided by the proper use of ear defenders. Minimisation of the noise around the occupants of the aircraft reduces the dependency of personal ear defenders and is conducive to a more comfortable, hygienic and less stressful environment. This thesis describes the basis of a theoretical and experimental project, directed at the design and evaluation of a practical active noise control (ANC) system suitable for a single engine light aircraft. Results from initial experiments conducted in a single engine aircraft demonstrated the viability of ANC for this application. However, the extreme noise, the highly damped cabin, the multiple tone excitation, the severe weight limitations and the requirement of air worthiness certification severely complicated the problem of achieving noise reduction throughout the entire aircraft cabin. Compromising the objective to only achieving local control around the occupants still presented difficulties because the region of attenuated noise around the error sensors was so small that a nearby observer experienced no sound level reduction whatsoever. The objective was therefore to move the control zone away from the error sensor and place a broad envelope of noise reduction immediately around the occupant's head, through the use of virtual sensors , thus creating the perception of global noise control. While virtual sensors are not new (Garcia-Bonito et al. (1996)), they are currently limited to acoustic pressure estimation (virtual microphones) via the initial measurement of an observer / sensor transfer function. In this research, new virtual sensor algorithms have been developed to: 1. minimise the sound level at the observer location, 2. broaden the control region, 3. adapt to any physical system changes and 4. produce a control zone that may ultimately follow an observer's head The performance of the virtual sensors were evaluated both analytically and experimentally in progressively more complex environments to identify their capabilities and limitations. It was found that the use of virtual sensors would, in general, attenuate the noise at the observer location more effectively than when using conventional remotely placed error sensors. Such a control strategy was considered to be ideal for a light single engine aircraft, because it would only require small light speakers (possibly fitted into a head-rest) to achieve a broad control zone that envelopes the region around the occupants heads. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), 2000.

The harmful effects of aircraft noise, with respect to both comfort and occupational health, have long since been recognised, with many examples of sound control now implemented in commercial aircraft. However, the single engine light aircraft cabin is still an extremely noisy environment, which apparently has been side-lined by both cost and weight constraints, especially with respect to low frequency sound reduction. Consequently, pilots and passengers of these aircraft are still exposed to potentially damaging noise levels and hearing damage can only be avoided by the proper use of ear defenders. Minimisation of the noise around the occupants of the aircraft reduces the dependency of personal ear defenders and is conducive to a more comfortable, hygienic and less stressful environment. This thesis describes the basis of a theoretical and experimental project, directed at the design and evaluation of a practical active noise control (ANC) system suitable for a single engine light aircraft. Results from initial experiments conducted in a single engine aircraft demonstrated the viability of ANC for this application. However, the extreme noise, the highly damped cabin, the multiple tone excitation, the severe weight limitations and the requirement of air worthiness certification severely complicated the problem of achieving noise reduction throughout the entire aircraft cabin. Compromising the objective to only achieving local control around the occupants still presented difficulties because the region of attenuated noise around the error sensors was so small that a nearby observer experienced no sound level reduction whatsoever. The objective was therefore to move the control zone away from the error sensor and place a broad envelope of noise reduction immediately around the occupant's head, through the use of virtual sensors , thus creating the perception of global noise control. While virtual sensors are not new (Garcia-Bonito et al. (1996)), they are currently limited to acoustic pressure estimation (virtual microphones) via the initial measurement of an observer / sensor transfer function. In this research, new virtual sensor algorithms have been developed to: 1. minimise the sound level at the observer location, 2. broaden the control region, 3. adapt to any physical system changes and 4. produce a control zone that may ultimately follow an observer's head The performance of the virtual sensors were evaluated both analytically and experimentally in progressively more complex environments to identify their capabilities and limitations. It was found that the use of virtual sensors would, in general, attenuate the noise at the observer location more effectively than when using conventional remotely placed error sensors. Such a control strategy was considered to be ideal for a light single engine aircraft, because it would only require small light speakers (possibly fitted into a head-rest) to achieve a broad control zone that envelopes the region around the occupants heads. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), 2000.

The harmful effects of aircraft noise, with respect to both comfort and occupational health, have long since been recognised, with many examples of sound control now implemented in commercial aircraft. However, the single engine light aircraft cabin is still an extremely noisy environment, which apparently has been side-lined by both cost and weight constraints, especially with respect to low frequency sound reduction. Consequently, pilots and passengers of these aircraft are still exposed to potentially damaging noise levels and hearing damage can only be avoided by the proper use of ear defenders. Minimisation of the noise around the occupants of the aircraft reduces the dependency of personal ear defenders and is conducive to a more comfortable, hygienic and less stressful environment. This thesis describes the basis of a theoretical and experimental project, directed at the design and evaluation of a practical active noise control (ANC) system suitable for a single engine light aircraft. Results from initial experiments conducted in a single engine aircraft demonstrated the viability of ANC for this application. However, the extreme noise, the highly damped cabin, the multiple tone excitation, the severe weight limitations and the requirement of air worthiness certification severely complicated the problem of achieving noise reduction throughout the entire aircraft cabin. Compromising the objective to only achieving local control around the occupants still presented difficulties because the region of attenuated noise around the error sensors was so small that a nearby observer experienced no sound level reduction whatsoever. The objective was therefore to move the control zone away from the error sensor and place a broad envelope of noise reduction immediately around the occupant's head, through the use of virtual sensors , thus creating the perception of global noise control. While virtual sensors are not new (Garcia-Bonito et al. (1996)), they are currently limited to acoustic pressure estimation (virtual microphones) via the initial measurement of an observer / sensor transfer function. In this research, new virtual sensor algorithms have been developed to: 1. minimise the sound level at the observer location, 2. broaden the control region, 3. adapt to any physical system changes and 4. produce a control zone that may ultimately follow an observer's head The performance of the virtual sensors were evaluated both analytically and experimentally in progressively more complex environments to identify their capabilities and limitations. It was found that the use of virtual sensors would, in general, attenuate the noise at the observer location more effectively than when using conventional remotely placed error sensors. Such a control strategy was considered to be ideal for a light single engine aircraft, because it would only require small light speakers (possibly fitted into a head-rest) to achieve a broad control zone that envelopes the region around the occupants heads. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), 2000.

Noise prediction methods are necessary in aspects of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic engineering. Predictive models of noise from rotating machinery ingesting turbulence is of much interest and relatively recently studied. This thesis presents a numerical method processed in a series of three codes that was written and edited to receive input for geometrical features of rotating machinery, as well as, adjustments to turbulent operating conditions. One objective of this thesis was to create a platform of analysis for any rotor design to obtain five parameters necessary for noise prediction; 1) the hydrodynamic inflow angle to each blade section, 2) chord length as a function of radius, 3) the cylindrical radius of each blade section, 4) & 5) the leading edge as a function of span in both the rotor-plane and as a function of axial distance downstream. Another objective of this thesis was to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD), specifically by using a Reynold’s-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) Shear Stress Transport (SST) 𝑘 − 𝜔 model simulation in ANSYS Fluent, to obtain the turbulent kinetic energy distribution, also necessary in the noise prediction method presented. The purpose of collecting the rotor geometry data and turbulent kinetic energy data was to input the values into the first of the series of codes and run the calculation so that the output spectra could be compared to experimental noise measurements conducted at the Stability Wind Tunnel at Virginia Tech. The comparison shows that the prediction method results in data that can be reliable if careful attention is payed to the input parameters and the length scale used for analysis. The significance of this research is the noise prediction method presented and used simplifies the model of turbulence by using a correlation function that can be determined by a one-dimensional function while also simplifying the iterations completed on rotor blade to calculate the unsteady forces. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Traditional means of controlling sound radiated by electrical power transformers involve the construction of large expensive barriers or full enclosures, which cause maintainability and cooling problems. One promising alternative is to use active noise control to cancel the noise. This thesis is concerned with one of the many problems which need to be investigated to develop a practical active noise cancellation system for transformers. This work, in particular, is concerned with the physical system design which includes the selection of the control source types and the evaluation of the near-field sensing strategies. Loudspeakers have been widely used in the past as an acoustic source for canceling transformer noise. The principal disadvantage of using loudspeakers is that to achieve global noise control, a large number, driven by a multi-channel controller, are required. However, if large panels are used in place of loudspeakers as control sources, it is possible that the number of the control sources and complexity of the controller could be reduced substantially. In addition to reducing the number of control sources and simplifying their application, panel sound sources could also overcome some disadvantages of the loudspeakers, such as limited life and deterioration due to the weather. Thus, part of the work described in this thesis is concerned with the development of a resonant curved panel with a backing cavity as an acoustic type source. The advantages of using a curved panel rather than a flat panel are twofold: first a curved panel is more easily excited by the extensional motion of the piezoelectric patch actuators; and second, it is more difficult to adjust the resonance frequencies of the efficient modes of a flat panel than of a curved panel. The analytical models for the design of the panel cavity systems have been developed. As an example, a resonant curved panel with a backing cavity system was constructed and the sound radiation of the system was measured. Results show that a resonant panel-cavity sound source could be used as an alternative to a number of loudspeakers for active cancellation of electric power transformer noise. Due to the advantages of using the vibration type control sources, two types of vibration control sources (inertial electrodynamic shakers and piezoelectric patch actuators) were considered and the mechanical output of the inertial shakers has been compared with that of the piezoelectric actuators. In contrast with the piezoelectric actuators, the resonance frequencies of the inertial shakers can be tuned to the frequencies of interest using simple tuning procedures, so that the output efficiency of the shakers can be increased. The output performance was evaluated for two types of actuators by measuring the structural response of either a panel or a transformer when excited by the actuators at half their rated voltage input. Results demonstrated that a much larger output amplitude at the frequency of interest can be achieved by the tuned inertial type actuators. Two near-field sensing strategies, the minimization of the sum of the sound intensities and the minimization of the sum of the squared sound pressures, have been studied. A quadratic expression was derived for the minimization of the sum of the sound intensities in the near-field. To evaluate the control performances achieved using both sensing strategies, a flat-panel was modelled with a harmonic point force disturbance and several point force control sources. Simulation results show that the control performance could be improved by minimizing the sum of the sound intensities in the hydrodynamic near-field, provided that a very large number of error sensors were used, otherwise better results were achieved using near-field squared pressure sensing. Both sensing strategies were used to predict the noise reductions that resulted for the active noise control of a small transformer in the laboratory environment and for a large electrical power transformer on site. To optimize the locations of the control sources (for the large transformer on site) and the locations of the error sensors (for the small transformer in the laboratory environment), a genetic algorithm (GA), which is an evolutionary optimization technique, was employed as a search procedure to optimize the control source and error sensor locations. The results showed that the control source locations and/or the error sensor locations must be optimized to achieve the maximum sound reduction for either error sensing strategy, especially for the sound intensity minimization; otherwise, the sound field level may increase after control due to the character of the cost function (the sum of the sound intensities). The simulation results were experimentally validated for the small transformer in the laboratory environment. Due to the limitation of the number of controller channels, the control performance was only evaluated for squared pressure minimization. The results demonstrated that for the case of 8 control sources and 8 error sensors, at 100 Hz, an average sound pressure reduction of 15.8 dB was achieved when evaluated at 528 monitoring locations at 0.25 m intervals on a surface that surrounded the transformer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Engineering (Department of Mechanical Engineering), 2000.

Bibliography: leaves 260-282. / viii, 312 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / This thesis develops an alternative control strategy, for active noise and vibration control systems, that does not require identification of the cancellation path transfer function. The Independent Quadratic Optimisation algorithm, developed in this work, is meant to optimise the coefficients of the control filter independently. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1997?

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-305) / 310 leaves : ill ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1991

This dissertation presents a set of general numerical tools for simulating feedforward active noise control in the frequency domain. Feedforward control is numerically similar to linear least squares regression, and can take advantage of various numerical techniques developed in the statistics literature for use with regression. Therefore, an important theme of this work is to look at the control problem from a statistical point of view, and explore the analogies between feedforward control and basic statistical principles of regression. Motivating the numerical approach is the need to simulate active noise control for systems whose dynamics must be modeled numerically because analytical solutions do not exist, e.g., fluid-structure interaction problems. Plant dynamics for examples in the present work are modeled using a finite-element / boundary-element computer program, and the associated numerical methods are general enough for us with many types of problems. The derivation is presented in the context of active structural-acoustic control (ASAC), in which sound radiating from a vibrating structure is controlled by applying time-harmonic vibrational inputs directly on the structure. First, a feedforward control simulation is developed for a submerged spherical shell using both analytical and numerical techniques; the numerical formulation is found by discretizing the integrations used in the analytical approach. ASAC is shown to be effective for controlling radiation from the spherical shell. For a point-force disturbance at low frequencies, a single control input can reduce the radiated power by up to 20 dB (ignoring the possibility of measurement noise). A more general numerical methodology is then developed based on weighted least-squares regression in the complex domain. It is shown that basic regression diagnostics, which are used in the statistics literature to describe the quality and reliability of a regression, can be used to model the effects of error sensor measurement noise to produce a more realistic simulation. Numerical results are presented for a finite-length, fluid-loaded cylindrical shell with clamped, rigid end closures. It is shown that when the controller reduces the radiated power by less than 2 dB, the control simulation is usually invalid for statistical reasons. Also developed are confidence intervals for the individual control input magnitudes, and prediction intervals which help evaluate the sensitivity to measurement noise for the regression as a whole. Collinearity, a type of numerical ill-conditioning that can corrupt regression results, is demonstrated to occur in an example feedforward control simulation. The effects of collinearity are discussed, and a basic diagnostic is developed to detect and analyze collinearity. Subset selection, a numerical procedure for improving regressions, is shown to correspond to optimizing actuator locations for best control system performance. Exhaustive-search subset selection is used to optimize actuator locations for a sample structure. Finally, a convenient method is given for investigating alternate controller formulations, and examples of several alternate controllers are given including a wavenumber-domain controller. Numerical results for a cylindrical shell give insight to the mechanisms used by the control system, and a new visualization technique is used to relate farfield pressure distributions to surface velocity distributions using wavenumber analysis. / Ph. D.

The design and analysis of finite length, multiple layered, induced strain actuators is investigated. A model of an arbitrary multiple layered actuator is utilized to predict the applied force and moment from the i^th layer onto a structure. The transverse equations of motion of a simply supported beam are derived using Timoshenko beam theory. This approach accounts for shear deformation and allows the actuator-applied moments to be directly incorporated into the equations of motion without further approximation. The model is cast in state space form and an assumed mode method is used to solve for the forced response of a nonuniform beam. Experiments are performed verifying the developed analytical model. The first experiment characterizes the dynamic properties of five different actuator/substructure configurations. Results indicate the system natural frequencies decreased and the structural damping increased with more attached actuators. Analytical predictions are shown to be in good agreement with the experimental results. / Master of Science

Bibliography: p. 199-207. Electronic publication; full text available in PDF format; abstract in HTML format. Describes the basis of a theoretical and experimental project, directed at the design and evaluation of a practical active noise control system suitable for a single light engine aircraft. The performance of virtual sensors were evaluated both analytically and experimentally in progressively more complex environments to identify their capabilities and limitations. Electronic reproduction.[Australia] :Australian Digital Theses Program,2001.