Cracked structure-acoustic coupling problems by hybrid fractal FE and BE methods

Evaluation of the sound-structure interaction is important for effective control of noise and vibration in structural acoustic systems. Cracked elastic structure-sound interaction problems are studied by employing the hybrid fractal FEM and BEM. The degrees of freedom of the system can be reduced greatly through adopting fractal FEM in discretizing the cracked elastic structure; while the exterior acoustic field is calculated by BEM, which automatically satisfies Sommerfeld’s radiation condition. Numerical examples are given and show that the resonant frequencies of the structure-acoustic coupled system decrease as the depth of the crack increases, and that the crack has a significant effect on the acoustical field in the vicinity of the crack tip.