Zhou R., Crocker M., Li Z.

Composite panel structures are often used in industry, automobile, boats and aircraft, because of the advantages they offer of high strength to weight ratios. However, the acoustical properties of these light and stiff structures can be less desirable than equivalent metal structures, which results in high interior noise levels. A number of researchers have studied the acoustical properties of honeycomb-core and foam-core sandwich panels. Not much work, however, has been carried out on foam-filled, honeycomb-core composite panels. In this paper, measurements of the transmission loss of the foam-filled, honeycomb-core sandwich panels with different configurations and thicknesses are presented. Some theoretical approaches to predict the sound transmission loss in sandwich structures are reviewed. The effects of the thickness of the core and the face sheets are investigated. The measured results are compared with those predicted by statistical energy analysis (SEA) approaches.