Computer-aided design on a perforated single-layer absorber under space constraints

As investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970, noise is highly responsible for the psychological and physiological illnesses of workers. Therefore, noise control for an enclosed manufacturing system using sound absorbers becomes indispensable. Considering the minimal acoustic wool used in the high-performance sound absorber during design optimization, the ratio of the sound absorption coefficient to the thickness of acoustic wool, a cost- and performance-oriented design index, is then applied and served as a researched objective accordingly; what’s more, the thickness of the absorber is fixed in advance for the sake of maintenance and access. In this paper, not only is the graphic analysis studied, but also, the computer-aided numerical assessments are presented. In the computer-graphic analysis on sensitivity, one set of design data is developed first. Additionally, the successive algorithm of iteration techniques and the original design data are carried out independently. Moreover, the results are then confirmed by the Kuhn-Tucker condition for accuracy purposes. It is shown that the theoretical and simulated results are in good agreement. The economical design of the sound absorber proposed in this study definitely provides a quick and optimal approach to minimize the amount of acoustic wool used and retain the higher acoustic performance of perforated single-layer absorbers under space restrictions.