Multi-harmonic active structural acoustic control of a helicopter main transmission noise using the principal component analysis

This paper evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness, under controlled conditions, of active structural acoustic control of a helicopter main transmission in order to attenuate the vibration of the receiving roof panel and its sound radiation into the cabin. The vibroacoustic analysis of a typical helicopter drive train is conducted to extract the dominant tones generated by the various transmission stages. A finite element model of a Bell 407 transmission and simplified roof structure is developed in order to investigate various active control arrangements using piezoceramic actuators to control wave propagation in the gearbox supporting struts or receiving panel. The principal component analysis is used to extract the most significant control paths and reduce the control effort. A multiple frequency principal component least mean square (PC-LMS) algorithm is implemented on a laboratory setup and is used to successfully reduce up to seven gearbox tones simultaneously.