An Optimum Bending Groove Design of Panel to Minimize Noise Power

In this paper, the authors propose a new method for optimum design of bending grooves on vibrating panel-like structures to reduce noise. It is proposed in the method to use the mapping of sound pressure level on the vibrating panel’s surface for best positioning of a bending groove and to apply the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSOA) for determining the best dimensions of the bending groove. The optimum design method is applied to a rectangular aluminum panel whose size is 0.45×0.4m with thickness 0.001m under the boundary condition of clamping four edge lines. Then, a panel with a bending groove is actually made according to the optimum design, and an experiment is carried out to the panel for verification. The application study is carried out for two cases of different position of a point force excitation on the panel. The two applications demonstrate that the bending grooves designed by the optimization method can realize good reduction of sound power.