Low-frequency vibro-acoustic response of an optimized fiber-reinforced graphite truss sandwich panel filled with wood-based material

Conventional metallic sandwich panels are widely used for noise control owing to their good noise control capabilities and excellent mechanical strength-to-weight ratio property. Furthermore, sound-absorbing products consisting of glass or mineral fiber materials are generally filled into the sandwich structures to lower the vibration response in resonance frequency and to enhance the structural noise attenuation capacity. In the present study, a fiber-reinforced graphite material is used as an alternative to its metallic counterparts. Moreover, a wood-based renewable absorption material is used as the absorption material and is filled into the sandwich structural core. The vibro-acoustic characteristics of the panel with such a design are numerically investigated using Actran. The findings of the research indicate that the proposed sandwich structure achieves advanced low-frequency noise control performance in comparison with other conventional metallic sandwich panels. Approximately 7 dB increase in sound transmission loss in the audible-frequency range is achieved in addition to a reduced panel weight and more stable vibration with reduced amplitude. The existing data available in the literature are employed for validating and illustrating the accuracy and reliability of the proposed approach.