Author:

Keywords:

Transfer Path Analysis, OPAX, Science & Technology, Technology, Acoustics, Engineering, Mechanical, Engineering

Abstract:

Today several experimental TPA (Transfer Path Analysis) methods exist for identifying the vibro- acoustic transfer paths in a system, from the active system component(s), generating the structural and acoustic loads, through the physical connections and along airborne pathways, to the target(s) at the passive system component(s) responding to these loads. Amongst these, one of the most recent methods is the OPAX (Operational Path Analysis with eXogeneous inputs) technique which uses parametric models (e.g. dynamic stiffness model for the mounts) for identifying the operational loads. The advantage of such a method is that only a limited amount of measurement data is needed to build up the TPA model since only a few model parameters are to be estimated to describe the loads over the whole frequency range. This is different in the traditional Matrix Inversion (MI) method where the parameter estimation has to be done separately for each frequency line, requiring a much larger amount of data. This makes the OPAX method more robust, fast and scalable, enabling the engineer to use a smaller amount of measurement data for quick troubleshooting. This paper reports on a validation test campaign which was carried out on a full vehicle to assess the OPAX method and compare it to the traditional Mount Stiffness (MS) and Matrix Inversion (MI) TPA methods. Specific focus is on the validation of the OPAX models by comparing the dynamic stiffness estimations to mount measurement data.