Optimisation of Design and Location of Acoustic and Vibration Absorbers Using a Distributed Computing Network

A distributed computing network was created using the software called Condor and a large number of networked desktop computers. This computational tool was used to optimise the design and location of passive vibration and acoustic absorbers attached to the payload fairing of a rocket launch vehicle. This paper describes a mathematical model to calculate the coupled vibro-acoustic response of a system from the uncoupled structural and acoustic modal responses obtained from finite element analysis. A genetic algorithm was used in conjunction with the distributed computing network to optimise the parameters of the absorbers. The optimisations using the computing network could be completed in significantly less time compared to a single desktop computer.