A novel optimization framework to replicate the vibro-acoustics response of an aircraft fuselage

In this work, a novel optimization framework, based on a Multi-Disciplinary Optimization (MDO) procedure, applied to the vibro-acoustic Finite Element Method (FEM) model of an aircraft fuselage mock-up, is proposed. The MDO procedure, based on an Efficient Global Optimization (EGO)-like approach, is implemented to characterize acoustic sources that replicate the sound pressure field generated by the engines on the fuselage. A realistic sound pressure field, evaluated by aeroacoustic simulations, was considered as the reference acoustic load, whereas two equivalent sound fields, displayed by two different arrays of microphones and generated by the same configuration of monopoles, were calculated by the proposed vibro-acoustic FEM-MDO procedure. The proposed FEM-MDO framework enables to set up ground experimental tests on aircraft components, useful to replicate their vibro-acoustic performances as if tested in flight. More in general, such a procedure can also be used as a reference tool to design simplified tests starting from more complex ones.