Vibroacoustic analysis of thermo-elastic laminated composite sandwich curved panel: a higher-order FEM–BEM approach

The present paper deals with the vibration induced acoustic responses of baffled sandwich curved shell panels constituted of laminated composite face sheets and subjected to harmonic point excitation in an elevated thermal environment by an effective computational approach. A coupled finite-boundary elements formulation based on the higher-order shear deformation shell theory has been proposed and implemented via a domestic MATLAB code for the computation of the responses. The eigen frequencies in conjunction with the conforming modes of the vibrating thermally pre-stressed composite sandwich panel are obtained using competent finite element steps engaging the Hamilton's principle. The critical buckling temperature of the sandwich panel structure is assessed to prevent any excess thermal loading during analysis followed by the computation of acoustic responses by solving the Helmholtz wave equation using the boundary element steps. The performance and the versatility of the present scheme is established by the convergence study and the successive comparison of the present numerical responses, for instance the critical buckling temperature and the radiated sound power, with the available benchmark solutions. The sound power emitted by thermally stressed composite sandwich panel is also computed via simulation model developed using commercial software ANSYS and LMS Virtual.Lab and compared with the present values. Numerous numerical examples are solved to deeply discuss the influence of various design parameters on the vibroacoustic responses of laminated composite sandwich curved panels under high temperature environment.