Sound insulation performance optimization of lightweight sandwich panels

Optimization of lightweight sandwich panels has been intensively studied, but optimization in terms of the acoustic objective is still a hot topic, and the influence on optimization results caused by sandwich panel geometric constraints is also rarely investigated. In this study, the optimization on lightweight sandwich panel designs is investigated by maximizing the sound insulation performance and minimizing the panel mass simultaneously. Firstly, the acoustic model of sandwich panels is discussed, which provides basic formulas to model the acoustic objective function. Secondly, the optimization problem is formulated as a bi-objective programming model, and a solution algorithm based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is provided. Finally, the numerical experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and solution algorithm. Numerical results demonstrate the tradeoff between two objectives, the panel transmission loss corresponding to the three typical points in the Pareto front, and how the geometric constraints impact the optimization results for lightweight sandwich panels.