Multiphysics Modeling of an Active Noise Control Device

Cost and availability of fast computer computers have made it affordable to solve complex engineering problems involving multiple physics using a single finite elements model. The practice is commonly referred to as multiphysics modeling. The objective in this study is to investigate the effectiveness of multiphysics modeling tools as applied to engineering design and analysis. Therefore, active noise control, which involves four different fields of sciences and engineering, has been chosen for the study. The physics involved in active noise control are: Electromagnetic, Structural vibration, Fluid, and Acoustic. The initial goal was to solve a simple noise cancellation problem using a single finite elements model and a personal computer. The task was rather difficult and inefficient. The approach presented here uses a single finite element model and combination of two modeling and analysis software. A well known active noise control methodology is used to cancel the noise radiated by a simply supported circular vibrating disk using a loudspeaker. Harmonic load is applied to the disk and the resulting displacements are fed to a controller designed using MATLAB/SIMULINK®. The output of the controller is used in the ANSYS® finite elements model to compute the acoustic field with and without control. The results show that more than one software packages running on separate personal computers are recommended for an effective multiphysics modeling.Copyright © 2006 by ASME