ACOUSTIC DYNAMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF

THE VLS FAIRING USING FINITE ELEMENTS

Carlos d’Andrade Souto

carlos_a_s2002@yahoo.com.br
Centro Técnico Aeroespacial (CTA) – Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE) – Divisão de Integração e
Ensaios (AIE)
Pça. Mal. Eduardo gomes, 50 – Vila das Acácias – CEP:12228-904 – São José dos Campos – SP – Brasil –
CEP:12228-904
Rogério Pirk
rogerio.pirk@iae.cta.br
Centro Técnico Aeroespacial (CTA) – Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço (IAE) – Divisão de Integração e
Ensaios (AIE)
Pça. Mal. Eduardo gomes, 50 – Vila das Acácias – CEP:12228-904 – São José dos Campos – SP – Brasil –
CEP:12228-904

In the space engineering community it is a well known fact that the acoustic loads applied on
launchers during lift off are quite strong and special care must be taken to avoid damages on
the most sensitive parts of the vehicle and its payload. Satellites usually have some
components which can be affected by the acoustic excitation. So an important task to be done
is to describe the fairing cavity acoustic dynamic behavior. In this work this kind of analysis
is performed for the Brazilian Satellite Launcher VLS fairing using the finite element method.

Keywords: Acoustics, Finite – Elements, Fairings

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1. INTRODUCTION

During take off satellite launchers generate (and suffer) severe acoustic loads. Typical
values for the overall sound pressure level (OSPL) applied on fairings lie in the range of 140-
160 dB even for a small launcher like the Brazilian VLS. These loads could affect the payload
and other rocket internal equipments. By this way, the prediction of the dynamic acoustic
behavior of the fairing cavity is of great importance (Stavrinidis, C. et al 2001). In the low
frequency range the finite element method could be used to predict the eigenfrequencies and
mode shapes of the coupled system faring structure – fairing cavity. In the VLS case Pirk
(2003) have shown that the coupling between the structure and the fluid in the fairing system
is weak. So an uncoupled analysis could give a reasonable approximation for the fairing
internal acoustics with a much smaller computational cost than a coupled one.
Methods to reduce the sound pressure level into launchers fairings have been extensively
studied (Sacarcelik, O., 2004; Estève, S.J., 2004) Helmholtz resonators and acoustic absorber
blankets are the most used strategies.
In this work we present an uncoupled modal and harmonic frequency response analysis of
the fairing cavity. The finite element code ANSYS was used in the calculations. Impedance
boundary conditions are imposed in order to simulate the effects of an acoustic absorber
material placed on the structure walls.

2. ACOUSTIC MODELLING BY THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

2.1 Acoustic fluid governing equations

A fluid domain Ω where the following hypothesis are valid:

H1-The gravity effect is neglected;

H2-The fluid is considered isothermal and isotropic;
H3-All processes are adiabatic and the fluid is inviscid;
H4-The changes in the fluid specific mass are neglected;
H5-The fluid is irrotational

is governed by the state, the continuity and Euler equations (Kinsler, 1982) showed
respectively in Equations (1), (2) and (3) as follows:

p = Bs (1)

∂s (2)
+ ∇.u = 0
∂t

∂u (3)
− ∇p = ρ o
∂t
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where B is the fluid compressibility modulus, s is the volumetric deformation, u is the fluid
velocity, p is the fluid pressure and ρ o is the fluid density.
The Equation (2) is differentiated about time and then introduced in the Equation (3).
Applying the divergent in both sides of the resulting equation one arrives at the Helmholtz
equation:

1 ∂2 p (4)
∇2 p = onde: c = B / ρ o
c 2 ∂ 2t

Including the influence of acoustic sources on the right hand side and considering the pressure
and the sources harmonic:

1 (5)
∇2 p − p=−f
c2

where: p is the fluid pressure; c is the sound velocity within the fluid; f is the term of the
acoustic sources within the fluid volume and ∇ is the Laplacian operator.

2.2 Finite element approximation

The finite element formulation for an acoustic fluid domain (acoustic cavity) can be
obtained by the Galerkin weighted residuals method. Considering a trial function p , the
residual is given by:

RΩ = ∇ 2 p + k 2 p + f (6)

The global residual RΩ is forced to be equal to zero over the entire domain. Multiplying the
residual by an weighting interpolation function W and integrating over the whole domain:

∂2 p ∂2 p ∂2 p (7)
R Ω = [W i + + + W i k 2 p + W i f ]d Ω = 0
Ω
∂x 2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2

Integrating by parts and considering the pressure natural boundary condition (which will be
described further) after some manipulations it follows that:

∂Wi ∂p ∂Wi ∂p ∂Wi ∂p (8)

+ + dxdydz − W i k 2 pdxdydz = W i fdxdydz
Ω
∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y ∂z ∂z Ω Ω

The finite element approximation with pressures as nodal variables gives for a fluid element :
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p = [ N ] pe { } (9)

{ }
Where p e is the pressures nodal vector. The Galerkin method states that:

W =N (10)

The Equation (8) discretized gives:

(11)
[H ] − ωc [E ] {p } = {F }
2
e e e e
2

Where the volumetric element matrix (or acoustic stiffness matrix) [ H e ], the compressibility
element matrix (or acoustic mass matrix) [ E e ] and the element force vector are given as
follows (Bathe, K.J., 1996):

[H ] = [B ] [B ]d Ω
e T (12)
Ωe

[E ] = c1 [N ] [N ]
e
2
T (13)
Ωe

{F } = [N ]
e T
fd Ω (14)
e
Ω

Where:

∂N 1 ∂N 2 ∂N n
∂x ∂x ∂x (15)
∂N 1 ∂N 2 ∂N n
[B ] =
∂y ∂y ∂y
∂N 1 ∂N 2 ∂N n
∂z ∂z ∂z

[N ] = [N 1 N2 Nn] (16)

In the Equations (11-14) the superscript e indicates that a single element was considered as
domain. Using the standard finite element assembly procedure the whole domain matrix
equations are finally obtained (Zienkiewicz, O J., 1994):
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(17)
[H ] − ω 2 [E ] {p n } = {F }
2

The natural boundary condition of rigid walls states that (Morand, H.J.-P., Ohayon, R.,
1995):

∂p (18)
=0
∂n

In this work we will consider only two other kinds of boundary conditions, the essential
boundary condition (prescribed nodal pressures) and the absorption boundary condition.

2.3 Sound absorption boundary condition

One of the hypothesis considered for the Equation (5) is that the fluid is inviscid and so
there is no viscous dissipation due to the fluid. However when the fluid is contained in a
cavity with walls covered entirely or partially by materials with sound absorption properties
(usually poroelastic materials) the dissipation effect needs to be considered.
To include dissipation of acoustic energy due to damping, a dissipation term must be
included in the left hand side of the Equation (5):

1 r 1 (19)
∇ p− 2 p+
2
p=−f
c ρoc c
where ρ o is the material density, c is the speed of sound and r is the characteristic impedance
r
of the absorbent material. The term is called boundary absorption coefficient ( β ),
ρ oc
which is commonly frequency dependent. The discretization of this new term in Equation (19)
gives the following matrix (ANSYS, 1994):

β
[C ] =
e

c
[N ]T [N ]
(20)
Γe

It can be noticed that since the impedance is considered only in the surrounding walls, the
integral in the Equation (20) is calculated over the surface Γ e and not over the volume Ω e .
The Equation (17) now became:

[H ]{p } + [C ]{p } + [E ]{p } = {F } (21)

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2.4 Modal and harmonic response analysis

The acoustic modal analysis gives the acoustical natural frequencies and mode shapes
and is done numerically by solving the homogeneous version of Equation (17):

(22)
[H ] − ω 2 [E ] {p } = {0}
2

The response to a harmonic excitation can be calculated by:

(23)
[H ] + i ω C (ω ) − ω 2 [E ] {p n } = {F (ω )}
2

3. ACOUSTIC LOADS DURING LIFT OFF

The acoustic loads during lift off can be considered random, broad banded in a significant
frequency range of 0-300 Hz and with a transient behavior (Balakrishna Rao, S.V.S.,
Daraneepathy, M. V., 2000). These loads acts on the launcher’s structure and can be evaluated
experimentally or by some numerical modeling.
Considering that the VLS faring acoustic system has a predominantly uncoupled behavior
due to faring structure rigidity (Pirk, R., 2003), the uncoupled fluid model is a reasonable first
approximation.
The acoustic loading will be applied as pressure fluctuations on the three cavity small
openings designed to equalize the interior and exterior pressures positioned in the bottom part
of the lateral walls (Palmério, A. F., 2003). The sound absorption boundary condition was
included in the fairing walls and a harmonic response analysis was performed. Although this
cannot reproduce the randomic nature of the excitation (which will be object of future works),
will cover the frequency range of interest where the first modes lie and can show how the
introduction of an impedance boundary condition on the fairing will affect the sound pressure
level into the cavity.
In the Figure (1) the VLS faring can be seen opened showing its internal structure. Figure
(2) shows some dimensions. The fairing is made by aluminum with circumferential and
longitudinal skinners.

4. FAIRING CAVITY FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

The finite element model was built using the finite element code ANSYS with trilinear
hexaedral elements. Considering at least 6 elements per wavelength, the maximum frequency
analyzed is 638 Hz. In all boundaries the absorption boundary condition was applied. The
mesh has 13146 degrees of freedom and is displayed in the Figure (3) above. The air
properties used were a specific mass of 1.225 Kg/m3 and a speed of sound of 340 m/s.
In the harmonic response analysis the calculation was calculated directly (without modal
superposition). The excitation pressure had a magnitude of 2,000 Pa (which corresponds to
160 dB) and the frequency range used was 50-450 Hz with steps of 1Hz (0.25 Hz around the
peaks). Two conditions were considered for harmonic analysis: with and without a sound
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absorbent material. A constant damping of 0.05% was assumed for the configuration without
the absorbent material.
The absorbent material characteristics described in (Gerges, S.N.Y, 2005) for a sample
with 60 mm of thickness and a specific mass of 44 Kg/m3 was used in the model. This blanket
covered the internal walls of the VLS fairing occupying a volume of 0.617 m3 (22.65% of the
total fairing volume) and a mass of 27.169 Kg. The boundary absorption coefficient is
frequency dependent and to include this effect, a different value was considered for a each
different frequency band. The values used are shown in Table (1).

Table 1 – Boundary absorption coefficient values used in the calculation

Frequency band Boundary absorption

(Hz) coefficient value
0-50 0
50-150 0.05
150-250 0.2
250-350 0.3
350-450 0.4

Figure 1 – VLS fairing (figure extracted from Pirk, R. 2003)

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3248,50 mm

1024,38mm

Equalizing pressure hole

O2
X

Position of the equalizing

120o 120o
pressure holes (O1, O2, O3)
X

O3 X X O1

Figure (2) – VLS faring dimensions

Figure 3 – Mesh used for the fairing cavity

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The points where the pressure fluctuations were applied can be seen in the Figure (4)
indicated by arrows and the surfaces where the impedance boundary condition was imposed is
displayed Figure (5).

Figure 4 – Locations where pressure were Figure 5 – Surfaces where the absorption
excitations applied boundary condition was applied

5. NUMERICAL RESULTS

A modal analysis was performed with the system without impedance to calculate the
natural frequencies and mode shapes. To evaluate the effect of the pressure equalizing holes,
configurations with and without the holes were studied. The natural frequencies of both
configurations are displayed in Table (2) while the mode shapes are shown in Figures (6) and
(7). The rigid body modes were omitted. Since the cavity is axisymmetric, many of its modes
will be doubled. The double modes are indicated with (2). Geometrically speaking, these are
transversal modes while the single modes are longitudinal modes.
It can be noticed that the presence of the holes have generated a longitudinal mode of
13,46 Hz. The other modes are slightly shifted in frequency while its shapes remains
unchanged.

Table 2 - Natural frequencies of the acoustic cavity

With holes Without holes

Mode Frequencies Frequencies
(Hz) (Hz)
1 13,46 66,93
2 69,86 116,78
3 118,36 164,20
4 165,65 174,15 (2)
5 174,56 (2) 200,04 (2)
6 201,42 (2) 216,82
7 217,75 237,82 (2)
8 239,78 (2) 266,87
9 267,56 280,35 (2)
10 281,56 (2) 284,44 (2)
11 281,56 (2) 308,21 (2)
12 284,56 321,60 (2)
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1st Mode (13,46 Hz) 2nd Mode (69,86 Hz) 3rd Mode (118,36 Hz)

4th Mode (165,65 Hz) 5th Mode (174,56 Hz) 6th Mode (201,42 Hz)

Figure 6 - Acoustic mode shapes calculated by ANSYS (fairing with holes)

1st Mode (66,93 Hz) 2nd Mode (116,78 Hz) 3rd Mode (164,20 Hz)

4th Mode (174,15 Hz) 5th Mode (200,04 Hz) 6th Mode (216,82 Hz)

Figure 7 - Acoustic mode shapes calculated by ANSYS (fairing without holes)

Only the model with the holes was considered for the harmonic analysis response. The
response was calculated for three nodes placed in different positions into the fairing interior:
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one in the bottom conical section, one in the middle cilindrical section and other in the upper
conical section. The nodes where the response was calculated can be seen in the Figure (8).

Node 4452

Node 3224

Node 190

Figure 8 – Position of the nodes where the pressure

responses were calculated

Magnitude and phase plots of the responses calculated for the nodes 190, 3224 and 4452
are displayed respectively in Figures (9) to (14).

300 200
No 190 with absorption
No 190 without absorption 150
250

100
200
Phase angle [degrees]

50
Pressure [dB]

150
0

100
-50

50
-100 No 190 with absorption
No 190 without absorption

0 -150

-50 -200
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

Figure 9 – Pressure response at node 190 Figure 10 – Pressure response at node

(magnitude) [dB] 190 (phase angle ) [o]
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300 200
No 3224 with absorption
No 3224 without absorption
250 150

100
200

Phase angle [degrees]

50
Pressure [dB]

150
0
100
-50

50 No 3224 with absorption

-100
No 3224 without absorption

0 -150

-50 -200
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Frequencia [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

Figure 11 – Pressure response at node 3224 Figure 12 – Pressure response at node

(magnitude) [dB] 3224 (phase angle ) [o]

300 200
No 4452 with absorption
No 4452 without absorption
250 150

200 100
Phase angle [degrees]

150 50
Pressure [dB]

100 0

50 -50

No 4452 with absorption

-100 No 4452 without absorption
0

-150
-50

-200
-100 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Frequency [Hz]
Frequency [Hz]

Figure 13 – Pressure response at node 4452 Figure 14 – Pressure response at node

(magnitude) [dB] 4452 (phase angle ) [o]

6. CONCLUSIONS

In this work a dynamic uncoupled analysis of the VLS fairing acoustic cavity with
impedance in the walls was performed. The weak coupling of the structure and the fluid in
this specific case (Pirk, R., 2003) makes the option for an uncoupled analysis reasonable to
simulate the dynamic characteristics of the system (its natural frequencies and mode shapes).
Some jumps can be observed in the response in Figures (9) to (14) due to the abrupt
variation of the sound absorbent coefficient, but this effect have not affected any specific
peak.
Although the external pressure loads have a ramdomic nature, the harmonic analysis was
useful to verify that the introduction of an impedance boundary condition in the model. can
reduce the sound pressure level to values lower than 100 dB for frequencies up to 150 Hz (this
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is the main goal of the work). For the three first acoustic modes which lie in the 0-150 Hz
band the reduction was not so strong, specially for the first one. This results were expected
since the sound absorbent materials are really effective for higher acoustic excitation
frequencies.
Despite the damping of 0.05 % included in the model with no sound absorption in the
walls, some peaks (specially the first and the second) have reached sound pressure levels
much higher than those ones obtained by Pirk (2003) with a model with no sound absorption
where the excitations applied on the fluid were the velocities of the vibrating fairing structure.
A more precise evaluation of the sound pressure levels in the resonance peaks can only be
obtained by experiments. Tests can also reveals whether the holes are really effective in
making the cavity acoustically opened. In the case of an acoustically closed cavity the kind of
excitation used by Pirk (2003) would give a better description of the physical system.
The calculated total weight of the acoustic blanket is too high. For a real space
application, more efficient sound absorbent materials combined with an optimization of the
blankets position and thickness should be considered.
For the low frequency band (0-150 Hz) other strategies must be tried, like Helmholtz
ressonators. A combination of sound absorbent materials and Helmholtz resonators can
reduce the OSPL values inside the fairing in the whole frequency band excited by vibro-
acoustical sources.

REFERENCES

ANSYS, 1994 User’s Manual Version for Revision 5.0

Balakrishna Rao, S.V.S., Daraneepathy, M. V., Response of buildings components to launch

acoustic environments Journal of Sound Vibration, Vol.229, No 2, p.229-244, 2000

Bathe, K.J. Finite Element Procedures New York: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Estève, Simon J., 2004 Control of sound transmission into payload fairings using distributed
vibration absorbers and Helmholtz resonators, PhD thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, Blacksburg, Virginia

Kinsler, L.E., Frey, A. R., Coppens, A. B. Sanders, J.V. Fundamentals of Acoustics, 3rd
edition, ,John Willey&Sons, New York, 1982

Morand, H.J.-P., Ohayon, R., Fluid Structure Interaction John Wiley & Sons, Paris, 1995

Palmério, A. F., Introduction to Rockets Engineering, Course notes. Institute of Aeronautics

and Space, São José dos Campos,2003 (in Portuguese)

Pirk, R., 2003. Análise Vibroacústica da Coifa do Veículo Lançador de Satélites Brasileiro
(VLS). PhD thesis, Technical Institute of Aeronautics, São José dos Campos

Sacarcelik, O., 2004 Acoustic Devices for the Active & Passive Control of Sound in a
Payload Compartment, Master of Science thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg, Virginia
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Gerges, S.N.Y, 2005 (editor) Vehicle Noise and Vibration 1th edition

Stavrinidis, C., Witting, ,M.; Klein, M. Advancements in Vibroacoustic Evaluation of

Satelitte Structures Acta Astronautica Vol. 48, No 4, pp. 203-210, 2001

Zienkiewicz, O.C., Taylor, R. L.,1994 The Finite Element Method 4th edition Mc Graw Hill