Comfort improvement of an elevator car by viscoelastic sandwich panels

摘要

Viscoelastic sandwich structures have become one of the most important techniques to reduce structural vibrations. These structures have a great damping capacity due to their viscoelastic core, and their metallic skins provide them a high stiffness. In the present work, the improvement of using viscoelastic sandwich structures on the dynamic response of the cabin of an elevator was analysed. First of all, a numerical model of the sandwich structures was created. Afterwards, the numerical model of a cabin made of sandwich structures was created, and its dynamic response was obtained. This response was compared to the response of an entirely metallic cabin. On the one hand, the transmission of vibrations through the panels was analysed. On the other hand, the noise that the passengers would hear because of different sound sources was analysed. Considering the results of both analysis, the improvement of using viscoelastic sandwich structures was observed, showing that they could be a possible alternative to conventional metallic panels.