Optimal holder configurations for suspended glass panels

Suspended glass panels are unframed windows supported by holders located peripherally and in proximity of the panel corners. These panels are made of glass or laminated glass and can be used, among other purposes, as noise barriers. In this study, a two-step procedure is implemented in order to improve the acoustic performance of suspended panels. First, Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of monolithic and laminated samples are extracted by comparing modal data from simulations, based on finite element method (FEM), and experimental analysis. Once the material properties have been obtained, an optimization procedure is implemented, aiming to find the optimal position of the holders that maximizes the sound transmission loss (TL) at low frequency range. This procedure is based on genetic algorithm (GA), which iteratively provides the position of the holders, hybrid modal FEM/statistical energy analysis (FEM/SEA), which is used to compute the TL of the panels. Eight optimizations have been performed where the TL, averaged in the frequency range 20-300Hz, has been maximized for 8 different panel configurations, i.e. square (1m x 1m) and rectangular (2.5m x 0.8m) geometries, monolithic and laminated tempered glass, 4 and 6 holder set-ups.