FEM vibroacoustic analysis in the cabin of a regional turboprop aircraft

The main goal of this article is to validate a methodological process in Actran MSC Software, that is based on the Finite Element Method, to evaluate the comfort in the cabin of a regional aircraft and to study the noise and vibrations reduction through the fuselage by the use of innovative materials. In the preliminary work phase, the CAD model of a fuselage section was created representing the typical features and dimensions of an airplane for regional flights. Subsequently, this model has been imported in Actran and the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) inside the cabin has been analyzed; moreover, the noise reduction through the fuselage has been evaluated. An important investigation and data collection has been carried out for the study of the aircraft cabin to make it as close as possible to a real problem, both in geometry and in materials. The mesh of the structure has been built from the CAD model and has been simplified in order to reduce the number of degrees of freedom. Finally, different fuselage configurations in terms of materials are compared: in particular, aluminum, composite and sandwich material with composite skins and poroelastic core are considered.