Abstract
Mathematically modelling sound propagation in splitter silencers has the potential to provide a fast and effective method for optimising silencer design, and for alleviating the need to undertake repetitive and expensive experimental measurements. Moreover, understanding the physics behind sound attenuation in silencers will ultimately help to improve in situ silencer performance and to avoid current problems whereby commissioned silencers do not provide the attenuation expected from laboratory measurements. Accordingly, a mathematical model is discussed here that is capable of predicting silencer insertion loss and predictions are compared with experimental measurements. Results demonstrate the potential of this model for predicting silencer performance under laboratory conditions, but also illustrate that multi-modal sound fields significantly affect silencer performance so that laboratory tests are unlikely to represent accurately in situ silencer performance.
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