Prediction of insertion loss of lagging in rectangular duct using statistical energy analysis

In this article, statistical energy analysis (SEA) is used to predict insertion loss from a lagged rectangular HVAC duct. For a lagged duct, all duct walls are treated from outside with acoustic material. Although deterministic methods like the finite element method (FEM), boundary element method (BEM), and wave based methods can predict the breakout noise, these methods have limitations in handling systems with high modal density due to higher computational cost. In this study, a rectangular duct is divided into six subsystems, which are four duct walls (each wall considered as a subsystem), internal air cavity and external airspace. Power flow analysis is performed on all subsystems to calculate transverse transmission loss of an unlined duct and insertion loss for a lagged duct. Predicted transverse transmission loss values are validated with ASHRAE data and Insertion loss values with literature. The results obtained are in good agreement.