Fuzzy structure theory modeling of sound-insulation layers in complex vibroacoustic uncertain systems: theory and experimental validation.

The fuzzy structure theory was introduced 20 years ago in order to model the effects of complex subsystems imprecisely known on a master structure. This theory was only aimed at structural dynamics. In this paper, an extension of that theory is proposed in developing an elastoacoustic element useful to model sound-insulation layers for computational vibroacoustics of complex systems. The simplified model constructed enhances computation time and memory allocation because the number of physical and generalized degrees of freedom in the computational vibroacoustic model is not increased. However, these simplifications introduce model uncertainties. In order to take into account these uncertainties, the nonparametric probabilistic approach recently introduced is used. A robust simplified model for sound-insulation layers is then obtained. This model is controlled by a small number of physical and dispersion parameters. First, the extension of the fuzzy structure theory to elastoacoustic element is presented. Second, the computational vibroacoustic model including such an elastoacoustic element to model sound-insulation layer is given. Then, a design methodology to identify the model parameters with experiments is proposed and is experimentally validated. Finally, the theory is applied to an uncertain vibroacoustic system.