Noise transmission and control for a light, twin-engine aircraft

One of the dominant source-path combinations for cabin noise in light, twin-engine aircraft is propeller noise being transmitted through the fuselage sidewall. This source-path was investigated and candidate sidewall add-on treatment were installed and tested using both an external sound source and the propeller in a ground static runup. Results indicate that adding either mass or stiffness to the fuselage skin would improve sidewall attenuation and that the honeycomb stiffness treatment used generally provided more improvement than an equal amount of added mass. It is proposed that double-wall construction in conjunction with skin stiffening should provide a good weight efficient combination for the aircraft studied.