Date Available

4-24-2016

Year of Publication

2016

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. David W. Herrin

Abstract

It is shown that the relationship between an impedance change and the dynamic response of a linear system is in the form of the Moebius transformation. The Moebius transformation is a conformal complex transformation that maps straight lines and circles in one complex plane into straight lines and circles in another complex plane. The center and radius of the mapped circle can be predicted provided that all the complex coefficients are known. This feature enables rapid determination of the optimal impedance change to achieve desired performance.

This dissertation is primarily focused on the application of the Moebius transformation to enhance vibro-acoustic performance of exhaust systems and expedite the assessment due to modifications. It is shown that an optimal acoustic impedance change can be made to improve both structural and acoustic performance, without increasing the overall dimension and mass of the exhaust system. Application examples include mufflers and enclosures. In addition, it is demonstrated that the approach can be used to assess vibration isolators. In many instances, the source properties (source strength and source impedance) will also greatly influence exhaust system performance through sound reflections and resonances. Thus it is of interest to acoustically characterize the sources and assess the sensitivity of performance towards source impedance. In this dissertation, the experimental characterization of source properties is demonstrated for a diesel engine. Moreover, the same approach can be utilized to characterize other sources like refrigeration systems. It is also shown that the range of variation of performance can be effectively determined given the range of source impedance using the Moebius transformation.

This optimization approach is first applied on conventional single-inlet single-outlet exhaust systems and is later applied to multi-inlet multi-outlet (MIMO) systems as well, with proper adjustment. The analytic model for MIMO systems is explained in details and validated experimentally. The sensitivity of MIMO system performance due to source properties is also investigated using the Moebius transformation.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.141

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