PIPEWALL TRANSMISSION LOSS AS USED IN VALVE

NOISE PREDICTION
Allen Fagerlund
Fisher Controls International
205 South Center Street
Marshalltown, IA 50158
INTRODUCTION
It has become increasingly important in recent years to develop methods for controlling the
noise which is produced in fluid transmission systems. The acoustic energy which propagates
throughout the fluid/structural system will radiate from the surface of the pipe. To evaluate,
from external measurements, the source levels which are present inside the pipe it is necessary to
have an accurate description of the transmission loss characteristics of the pipe wall.
DISCUSSION
On a worldwide basis thousands of pipewall transmission loss (TL) calculations are made
daily as a part of the prediction of control valve noise. Therefore, it has become necessary to
develop a model, which is easy to apply to the wide variety of piping systems found in industry.
Transmission loss is typically defined as either the difference in decibels between the input
power to the pipe and the power radiated by the pipe or between the internal and external mean
square pressures. The two definitions yield identical values when the internal and external fluids
are the same and a reference length is defined such that the radiating area is equal to the cross
sectional area of the pipe.
The current IEC Control Valve Aerodynamic Noise Prediction Standard [1] utilizes an
approximate form of the mean square pressure transmission loss as a function of frequency.
Total internal acoustic power is determined, converted to pressure, and associated with a peak
frequency which follows from [2]. Transmission loss is calculated at that peak frequency to gain
the required external level.
There are four important frequencies that establish approximate ranges for various types of
transmission loss behavior.
1) Ring frequency - f
r
- the frequency at which the longitudinal wavelength is equal to the
circumference of the pipe.
2) Acoustic cut-off frequency - the lowest frequency at which transverse modes of
propagation can exist in the internal fluid.
3) Internal coincidence frequency - f
o
- the frequency at which the internal acoustic and
structural axial wavenumbers are equal for a given circumferential mode.
4) External coincidence frequency - f
g
- the frequency at which the external acoustic
wavespeed is equal to the velocity of a bending wave in the pipe wall.
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As previously mentioned the relationship of the peak frequency (f
p
) of the internal source to
the above frequencies determines the TL of the application.
Early work [3] established that above the ring frequency the pipe responds as a flat plate of
the same thickness as the pipe wall with the effects of curvature predominant below this point.
These results allowed later research to concentrate below the ring frequency. For most industrial
piping the frequencies of maximum radiation are dictated by strong coupling between higher
order internal acoustic modes and bending modes of the pipe. This is referred to as coincidence
and is of primary interest between the acoustic cut-off frequency and the ring frequency. A
method was developed [4] to calculate the frequencies at which minima occur in the TL
spectrum and incorporated into a TL estimation procedure, which formed the basis for the
transmission loss terms in the German VDI Document on piping noise [5]. Due to an
assumption that the ring frequency was less than the external coincidence frequency, this work
was primarily suitable for cylinders with low wall thickness to diameter ratios. This results in a
linear dependence of TL on this ratio.
While it is possible to obtain a direct solution to the equations of motion for each structural
mode interacting with an acoustic field, this becomes unwieldy at high frequencies where the
number of modes is very high. An advantage in using a statistical method for analyzing this
interaction is that the response and forcing function parameters are averaged over a frequency
band. Since detailed characteristics of the structure are essentially averaged, only the gross
physical parameters are necessary for analysis. This approach was carried over into large-radius,
thin-walled, externally [6], [7], and internally [8] excited cylinders. The modal interaction work
was further studied [9], [10], [11], [12], and in all of these studies the importance of the internal
coincident frequencies was brought out in regards to the pipe wall response. Experimental
results were presented [13] showing the effects of flow velocity on transmission loss through
pipe walls commonly used in industry. An analysis of the effects of uniform flow velocity as
well as internal pressure was developed [11], which in a very approximate form, is the basis for
the TL terms in the IEC Standard [1]. This approximate form showed that the TL varied as the
square of the thickness to diameter ratio.
IMPLEMENTATION
Below the cut-off frequency sound propagates only as a plane wave moving through the fluid,
however, above this frequency sound can propagate in more complex higher order modes which
tend to travel with a spiral or helical motion. At the cut-off frequency the sound wave spins
circumferentially and as frequency increases an axial component is added which causes
propagation through the fluid in a spiral motion.
The same circumferential modes are present in the pipewall and also develop an axial
component as frequency increases. These propagate as bending waves at a velocity which is
frequency dependent. For each mode order there is a frequency at which the axial bending
wavespeed in the pipe is equal to the axial propagation velocity in the fluid which is called the
coincidence frequency.
The first internal coincidence frequency was calculated in 50mm(2in) through 600mm(24in)
pipe with a variety of wall thickness and air as the internal fluid. Also, the ring frequency using
the mean diameter was calculated for each pipe. The ratio of the ring frequency (
R
) to the first
internal coincidence frequency ( f
o
) was consistently close to 4, which yields the approximate
expression ( f
o
=
R
/4 ) in the IEC standard. This frequency is multiplied by ( c
2
/343 ) as an
approximate correction for internal fluids other than air.
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i
r
D
f

000 5
,
,
_

343 4
2
c f
f
r
o
,
( )
( ) 000 5
343 3
2
p
g
t
f

( ) TL
c
t
c
p
p
2

_
,

_
,

_
,

1
]
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

10 log 7,6 10
G
1
10
p
x
2 2
a
s
415 G
y
7
2
f
p

Frequency factors G
x
and G
y
f f
p o
< f f
p o

G
f
f
f
f
x
o
r
p
o

_
,

_
,

2 3 4 /
G
f
f
for f f
x
p
r
p r

_
,
<
2 3 /
G for f f
x p r
1
G
f
f
for f f
y
o
g
o g

_
,

<
g o y
f f for G 1
G
f
f
for f f
y
p
g
p g

_
,

<
G for f f
y p g
1

2
- internal fluid density (kg/m
3

)
C
2
- internal acoustic wavespeed (m/s)
Di - pipe diameter (m)
t
p
- wall thickness (m)
Calculations are made for an air filled pipe with two different wall thickness to diameter
ratios representing regions of both first and second power dependence. Figures 2a,b show
typical changes as a result of the appropriate use of f
g
for these two cases. The benefit is that
large valves operating at low pressures will have a lower predicted noise level due to increased
transmission loss.
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Figure 2a - IEC Transmission Loss Spectrum (t
p
/D
i
= .13)
Figure 2b - IEC Transmission Loss Spectrum (t
p
/D
i
= .015)
SUMMARY
An approximate method for calculating the sound transmission loss of cylindrical pipe has
been presented and is currently in the new draft of the IEC standard on control valve noise
prediction. This represents an improvement to the present standard since corrections are made
for cylinders with low thickness to diameter ratios. The difference in noise level predicted as a
result of the TL change can impact a decision of whether a standard or special quiet valve will be
necessary for a given application.
Thickness to Diameter Ratio = .13
-70.0
-65.0
-60.0
-55.0
-50.0
-45.0
100 1000 10000 Frequency (Hz)
I
E
C

T
r
a
n
s
m
i
s
s
i
o
n

L
o
s
s
Current
Proposed
Thickness to Diameter Ratio = .015
-50.0
-45.0
-40.0
-35.0
-30.0
-25.0
100 1000 10000
Frequency (Hz)
I
E
C

T
r
a
n
s
m
i
s
s
i
o
n

L
o
s
s
Current
Proposed
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REFERENCES
1. Control valve aerodynamic noise prediction method, IEC 534-8-3 (1995)
2. Determination of Peak Internal Sound Frequency Generated by Throttling Valves for the
Calculation of Pipe Transmission Losses, H.D. Baumann, J. Noise Control Engineering
Journal, 36, 75-83 (1991)
3. Theorie der Schalldammung zylindrischer Schalen, L. Cremer, Acoustica, 5. S.245-256
(1955)
4. Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Schalldammung von Zylindern, M. Heckl, Acoustica,
8 S.259/65 (1958)
5. Noise at pipes, VDI 3733 (1996)
6. "Radiation Properties of Cylindrical Shells," J. E. Manning and G. Maidanik,J. Acoust. Soc.
Am., 36, 1691-1698 (1964)
7. "Sound Transmission Through Cylinder Walls Using Statistical Considerations," E.
Szechenyi, Journal Sound and Vibration, 19, 83-94 (1971)
8. "Response of a Cylinder to Random Sound in the Contained Fluid," F. I. Fahy, Journal
Sound and Vibration, 13, 171-194 (1970)
9. "The Coincidence of Higher-Order Acoustic Modes in Pipes with the Pipe Vibrational
Modes," J.L. Walter, O.H. McDaniel, and G. Reethof., presented at 94th Bi-annual Meeting
of the Acoustical Society of America, Dec., (1977)
10. "Techniques for Analyzing the Propagation of Energy in a Pipe Flow System," M. P. Norton,
and M. K. Bull, presented at Seventh Canadian Congress of Applied Mechanics, (1979)
11. Sound Transmission Through a Cylindrical Pipe Wall, A. C. Fagerlund and D.C. Chou,
ASME Journal of Engineering for Industry, 103, 335-360 (1981)
12. Walter, J. L., Ph.D. thesis, Penn State University, (1979)
13. Transmission of sound through pipe walls in the presence of flow, C.I. Holmer, and J.F.
Heyman, Journal of Sound and Vibration 70, 275-301 (1980)
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