Chapter 1

Introduction

The greatest source of noise which disturbs people and creates impact on their environ-
ment comes from transport vehicles. The huge increase in mobility achieved by techno-
logical development in the last century accompanied by high background noise levels,
particularly due to road traffic, has become a feature of our society [1]. In road traffic
noise, internal combustion engine is a major source of noise pollution [2]. Noise pollu-
tion created by engines becomes a vital concern in residential areas or areas, where noise
creates hazard. Generally, exhaust noise is the most dominant source compared to other
sources of noise created by the vehicles. The noise from an engine radiates from sources
associated with mechanical impacts and fluid flow processes [3]. A high intensity pres-
sure wave generated by combustion in the engine cylinder propagates along the exhaust
pipe and radiates from the exhaust pipe termination [4]. The pulse repeats at the firing fre-
quency of the engine. The frequency content of exhaust noise is dominated by a pulse at
the firing frequency, but it also has a broadband component in its spectrum which extends
to higher frequencies [5].
Noise contribution from various automotive systems shows that 32% of the overall
noise produced by any engine is from the engine exhaust system. Generally, engines
produce noise of 90 to 130 dB depending on the size and the type of the engine [6–
8]. Noise levels of more than 80 dB are injurious for human beings [9–11]. Hence to
reduce noise from internal combustion engines they are equipped with an important noise
control element known as silencer or exhaust muffler which suppresses the acoustic pulse
generated by the combustion process [12].
Muffler/silencer is an important noise control element for reduction of exhaust noise

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

and other noise sources involving flow of gas [13]. It is the major component in the ex-
haust system of a vehicle which attenuates a sound field traveling through it along its
propagation path to reduce the engine noise level which radiates to the surrounding. Muf-
fling devices may function in any one or combination of three ways: they may suppress
the generation of noise; they may attenuate noise already generated; and they may carry
or redirect noise away from sensitive areas. Careful use of all three methods for achieving
adequate noise reduction can be very important in the design of muffling devices [14].
The basic construction of muffler usually consists of the tubular metal jacket, perfo-
rated tubes and the expansion chamber. The arrangement of these components will guide
the exhaust gas to flow from the inlet pipe of the muffler to the outlet (tail pipe). Inside the
muffler, the noise from the exhaust gas will be cancelled out by the basic physics principle
of noise cancellation before the gas flows out to the atmosphere.
A silencer may be classified as active and passive. An active silencer is one in which
the noise is cancelled by electronic feed forward and feedback techniques [15]. A silencer
may be passive, where the sound is attenuated by reflection and absorption of the acoustic
energy within the element. Again passive mufflers are classified as dissipative or reactive,
depending on whether the acoustic energy is dissipated into heat or is reflected back to
form destructive interference and impedance mismatch by the area discontinuity [16].
Simple reactive muffler is a simple expansion chamber, the simplest of the muffler
configurations, has very limited practical application due to the presence of periodic
troughs in the transmission loss spectrum which drastically lower the overall transmis-
sion loss of the muffler. Mufflers also consist typically of several pipe segments that
interconnect a number of large diameter chambers. Reflection of sound energy (towards
the source) is generally achieved by introducing area discontinuities and flow reversals
in the sound path. These silencers reduce the radiated acoustical power primarily due to
the impedance mismatch, that is, by allowing the acoustical impedance discontinuities to
reflect sound back toward the source. Essentially, the most relevant discontinuities are
commonly achieved by (a) sudden cross-sectional change (expansions or contractions),
(b) wall property changes (transition from a rigid wall pipe to an equal diameter absorb-
ing wall pipe), or (c) any combination thereof.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

The reflective effect of the muffler chambers and piping (typically referred to as res-
onators) essentially prevents sound wave from being transmitted past the muffler. The
reactive mufflers are more effective at lower frequencies than at high frequencies, and are
most widely used to attenuate the exhaust noise of internal combustion engines.

Figure 1.1: Typical reactive muffler (Courtesy of Silex Exhaust Silencers, Inc.)

Figure 1.1 shows a typical reactive muffler. The mufflers using the reflection tech-
nique are the most commonly used because they damp the noise much better than the
absorptive silencer. They have nevertheless a higher back pressure which lowers the per-
formance of the engine. The actual best way to take the best power of the engine would
simply be not to use any muffler. But this leads to extensive noise output to surroundings.
Some mufflers using the reflection principle also incorporate cavities which dampen the
noise at certain frequencies. These cavities are called, Helmholtz Resonators.
The presence of extended inlet/outlet ducts in a reactive expansion chamber is known
to provide an acoustic attenuation performance in which a combination of broadband
domes and resonant peaks is found below the onset of the first excited higher order
mode [17]. By suitable selection of lengths of extended tubes in ducts, it is possible
to match the resonances with the pass-band frequencies for single chamber mufflers [18]
as well as multiple chamber configurations [19] thus improving the acoustic behaviour
primarily associated with low and mid frequency range, where planar propagation domi-
nates the acoustic field. The absorber silencer is composed of a tube or chamber covered
by sound absorbing material of fibrous or porous nature. Recent improvements in fiber
properties combined with their broadband acoustic dissipation characteristics make such
materials potentially desirable for implementation in silencers [20–22]. Absorbing ma-

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

terials are typically used in combination with perforated ducts or screens resulting in an
interaction between them [23, 24]. Sometimes the tube is perforated so that some part of
the sound wave goes through the perforation to the absorbing material lined on the cham-
ber and attenuate noise by converting the sound energy propagating in the passages into
heat caused by friction in the voids between the oscillating gas particles and the fibrous
or porous sound-absorbing material. The absorbing material is usually made of fiberglass
or steel wool. The dampening material is protected from the surrounding by a supple-
mentary coat made of a bend metal sheet and generally held in position by the use of a
perforated metal liner. Figure 1.2 shows a typical absorptive muffler.

Figure 1.2: Typical absorptive muffler (Courtesy of Noise Reduction, Inc.)

The actual effective principle behind the attenuation is only inadequately described
by this distinction, because the dominating effect of these two ‘types of silencers’ is not
necessarily the dissipation of sound energy into heat [25]. For the absorption to be ef-
fective there must be interconnected air paths through the material [21]; therefore, the
acoustic properties of absorbing material are essential for designing dissipative silencers.
The absorptive silencers usually have relatively wideband noise reduction characteristics

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

at middle and higher frequencies.

Absorptive silencers are often used to attenuate the engine intake noise of sports ve-
hicles and supplement the performance of reactive mufflers for the engine exhaust noise
control. The exhaust systems of internal combustion engines generate noise with a wide
frequency range, including the dominant noise at low frequencies, namely engine firing
frequency and its first few harmonics [26]. In such applications, performance of dissipa-
tive silencers can be enhanced at low frequencies by reactive acoustic elements such as
Helmholtz or quarter wave resonators.

Figure 1.3: Hybrid silencer (Courtesy of Noise Reduction, Inc.)

The combination of dissipative and reactive components defines the hybrid silencer
as shown in Figure 1.3. Commonly it has multiple chambers connected to each other by
ducts. The interactions among these chambers may substantially affect the overall perfor-
mance of hybrid silencer. Thus, the design of hybrid silencer requires understanding of
acoustic characteristics of individual dissipative and reactive elements, as well as the in-
teractions among them. Hybrid silencer is an effective noise attenuator over a wide range
of frequencies as shown in Figure 1.4.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.4: Noise attenuation curves (Courtesy of Silex Exhaust Silencers, Inc.)

Generally, mufflers should be designed to satisfy the following five requirements:

(1) High noise attenuation performance: It is a fundamental requirement of a muffler.
An exhaust muffler should muffle noise in the frequency range of interest, especially the
low frequency range, because it is well known that most of the noise is limited to the
engine rotational frequency and its first few orders.
(2) Minimum back pressure: Back pressure represents the extra static pressure exerted
by the muffler on the engine through restriction in the flow of exhaust gases. This needs
to be kept to a minimum, because a large back pressure will result in reduction of volu-
metric efficiency and increases the specific fuel consumption rate. These two important
design requirements for a muffler are often contradictory. For a given engine, the noise
attenuation performance of muffler can be evaluated experimentally in terms of tail pipe
noise, which is sound pressure level at a distance of 500 mm from the tail pipe and at an
angle of 45 degrees with respect to the axis of the tail pipe. The back pressure can be
detected easily by a pressure sensor. Internal combustion engines may operate with back
pressures as high as 25-30 kPa.
(3) Physical size and shape of the muffler: In automotive applications, there are limi-
tations on the physical size and the shape of the muffler. This requirement often interacts
with the acoustic requirements.
(4) Mechanical and material requirements: Although the internal gauge pressure within
most mufflers is relatively small, the mechanical design of the muffler must be consid-

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

ered. In applications involving high-temperature gases or corrosive gases, the materials

selected for the muffler must be compatible with the fluid handled. If there are suspended
particles (soot, for example) in the gases, the mechanical design must be such that these
particles are not easily trapped within the muffler. This requirement may interact with the
geometric requirements.
(5) Economic requirements: Although this requirement is listed last, it is often the
most critical one. The muffler must be designed for minimum cost, subject to the con-
straints imposed by other requirements. Economic considerations include both the initial
(purchase) cost and the operating (maintenance) costs.
In the recent decades, the environment regulations on noise radiated from automobiles
has become more and more stringent forcing researchers to seek a muffler with a higher
attenuation performance in a limited volume.

1.1 Performance Parameters of a Muffler

A simple muffler has a small diameter pipe on either end; the upstream end side pipe is
called exhaust pipe while that at downstream side is called tail pipe. The larger diameter
portion exists between these two ends and is called muffler proper or simply an expansion
chamber. The performance of a muffler is measured in terms of the following major
parameters.

1.1.1 Insertion Loss (IL)

The insertion loss of a muffler is defined as the reduction (in decibels) in sound power
transmitted through a duct compared to that transmitted with no muffler in place. Provided
that the duct outlet remains at a fixed point in space, the insertion loss will be equal to
the noise reduction that would be expected at a reference point external to the duct outlet
as a result of installing the muffler. This value depends on the properties of the source,
termination, and surrounding environment as well as the silencer [27, 28]. Specifically,
the source impedance as well as the terminating impedance for the system will affect the
amount of insertion loss provided by the silencer.
Mathematically insertion loss is defined as difference between acoustic powers radi-
ated without any filter and that with the filter.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

IL = LW1 − LW2 (1.1)

 
W1
IL = 10 log10 (1.2)
W2
where, W and LW are the acoustic power flux and acoustic power level respectively. Sub-
scripts 1 and 2 denote systems without filter and with filter. Figure 1.5 shows concept of
insertion loss.

Figure 1.5: Schematic diagram for insertion loss

1.1.2 Transmission Loss (TL)

It is defined as difference between power incident on muffler proper and that transmitted
downstream into an anechoic termination. It is independent of source and presumes an
anechoic termination at tail pipe. It describes performance of a muffler. Transmission
loss is one of the most frequently used criteria of muffler performance because it can
be predicted very easily from the known physical parameters of the muffler and is only
a property of four pole parameters and independent of the source and the termination
impedances [12, 29].

 
pi
T L = 20 log10 (1.3)
pt
Subscripts i and t denote the incident wave at upstream and transmitted wave at down-
stream of muffler respectively with an assumption that downstream has anechoic termi-
nation and only transmitted sound wave.
An , Bn , At are the complex amplitudes of forward pressure wave at upstream of muf-

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

fler, backward pressure wave at upstream of muffler and transmitted pressure wave at
downstream of muffler as shown in Figure 1.6.

Figure 1.6: Schematic diagram for transmission loss

 A n 2
T L = 10 log10   (1.4)
At
The performance of reactive devices is dependent upon the impedances of the source
and termination (outlet). In general, a reactive device will strongly affect the generation
of sound at the source. This has the effect that the transmission loss and insertion loss of
reactive devices may be very different, since insertion loss is the quantity related to noise
reduction.
The performance of dissipative devices (absorptive mufflers), on the other hand, by
the very nature of the mode of operation, tends to be independent of the effects of source
and termination impedance. Provided that the transmission loss of a dissipative muffler
is at least 5 dB it may be assumed that the insertion loss and the transmission loss are
the same. This assertion is justified by the observation that any sound reflected back to
the source through the muffler will be reduced by at least 10 dB and is thus small and
generally negligible compared to the sound introduced. Consequently, the effect of the
termination impedance upon the source must also be small and negligible.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1.3 Level Difference (LD)

It is also called as noise reduction. It is the difference in sound pressure levels at two
arbitrarily selected points in the exhaust pipe and tail pipe.

 
p1
LD = 20 log10 (1.5)
p2
where p1 and p2 are the pressures at two arbitrarily selected points in the exhaust pipe and
tail pipe as shown in Figure 1.7.

Figure 1.7: Schematic diagram for level difference

Unlike the TL, the definition of LD makes use of standing wave pressures and does
not require an anechoic termination.
Comparison between performance parameters of muffler
Among the three acoustics parameters, IL represents the true muffler performance in as
much as it represents the loss in the radiated power level consequent to insertion of filter
between source and receiver. But it requires prior knowledge of internal impedance of
the source. Instead TL does not require source and radiation impedance in as much as
it represents difference between incident and transmitted acoustics energy and requires
impedance tube for the decomposition of standing wave. LD is easiest to measure and
calculate. It is used widely for experimental confirmation of calculated transmission be-
havior of given muffler. The evaluation of muffler for the engine is based on IL or TL.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.2 Methods for Measuring TL of Muffler

The incident sound pressure and transmitted sound pressure give the transmission loss
of an acoustical element. The analytical approach to calculate the TL is transfer matrix
method (TMM), which is based on the pressure and particle velocity continuity equa-
tion. In recent days many software packages such as SYSNOISE, COMSOL, ANSYS,
ABAQUS etc. are available which calculate the TL by different numerical algorithms.
Experimental evaluation of TL is difficult compared to numerical or analytical technique
as it requires sound wave separation. The different methods for TL measurement are as
follows,

• Two room method

• Decomposition method

• Two source method and two load method

1.2.1 Two Room Method

In the two room method, muffler is kept in the transmission path created between the two
rooms mostly anechoic in nature. One room has a sound source and sound power is mea-
sured in both rooms. As compared to other methods two room method requires large and
expensive test chambers.

1.2.2 Decomposition Method

The decomposition method is based on decomposition theory. The sound pressure at the
inlet is decomposed into incident and reflected wave, and anechoic termination is used at
the other end to get only transmitted wave.
In both the above methods TL is calculated by a logarithmic pressure level difference be-
tween incident and transmitted sound wave through a muffler. Its value is measured in dB.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.2.3 Two Source Method and Two Load Method

The two source and two load method are based on transfer matrix approach, that is rela-
tion between pressure and particle velocity at inlet and outlet of muffler. The four pole
parameters of ducts and mufflers need to be evaluated first. Transfer matrix approach for
one dimensional or lumped parameter acoustic element provides a very convenient and
useful way to model and analyze acoustic systems [12, 30]. In two source method two
different sources are used while in two load method two different loads are used. These
two methods are easier to employ than decomposition method as these methods do not
require any anechoic termination which is difficult and expensive to construct.

1.3 Motivation for Present Work

It is important that the acoustic performance of these mufflers is reliably predicted and
optimised, in order to improve the quality of the well-being of the user. This has been
necessitated both due to public awareness about ill effects of noise pollution and Govt.
regulations becoming stringent. Many researchers have done both theoretical and exper-
imental work to reduce the engine exhaust noise. There are enough pointers indicating
what needs to be done. However, an objective evaluation of present knowledge to design
a muffler for a specific requirement is missing. Hence motivation for carrying out this
work is to evolve methodology for effective design of a silencer for reducing noise as per
user requirements.

1.4 Objectives of the Present Work

The overall objectives of the present work are enumerated as follows based on the moti-
vation for current work.

1. Develop numerical models for reactive mufflers with side outlet.

2. Develop general ANSYS program to study acoustic behaviour of single and double
chamber muffler by FEM analysis and validation of program for various silencers.

3. Investigate the acoustic behaviour by changing shape and geometry of mufflers.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

4. Develop generalised analytical formula for side-outlet muffler by using acoustic

theory and validation by transfer matrix method and finite element method.

5. Enhancement of performance of single and double chamber muffler by using stand-

ing wave and coherent sound concept.

6. Optimization of central extended-inlet side-outlet double chamber muffler by using

grid search method.

7. Optimization of central extended-inlet, central extended-outlet double chamber muf-

fler with extended inlet and outlet at the baffle by using Taguchi and ANOVA
method.

8. Develop the experimental set-up and perform the experiments for validating analyt-
ical and numerical results.

9. Validate all the optimised models by experimental procedures.

1.5 Implementation
In this study, acoustical results for various reactive muffler designs were obtained by
using MATLAB and two finite element software packages - ANSYS and COMSOL. Ex-
perimental results have been obtained using the two load method by using two pressure
field microphones. Results of the transmission loss of each muffler obtained from the fi-
nite element models were optimised by grid search method and quality control tools. The
finite element modeling packages were consistent in their predictions of the magnitude of
the transmission loss at each frequency. Experimental results of the models showed good
agreement with the optimised results over the entire frequency range of interest.
This thesis presents TL obtained from reactive, dissipative and hybrid mufflers/silencers,
modification of geometrical shape to enhance the performance, use of side outlet muffler,
derivation of generalised formula for TL of side outlet muffler. The grid search method
and Taguchi method were then employed to obtain optimized muffler configurations for
desired frequency range of interest. Finally the transmission Loss (TL) given by the op-
timized hybrid model was compared with laboratory measurements and found to match
well.

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 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter importance of muffler and silencer was discussed. Various types of
mufflers and silencers, their effects were studied along with their performance parameters.
The literature survey leading towards the objectives and the scope of the research topic is
carried out and discussed in the next chapter.

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