Design of sound insulating sandwich structures based on multiple criteria

The pressure on the electric power grid deriving from the growing use of renewable sources and mobility electrification is pushing new infrastructures closer to the urban environment. For this reason, the equipment must be as quiet as possible or otherwise enclosed in technical volumes having the functions to prevent unauthorised access and shield the noise propagating towards the neighbourhood. The different nature of the noise generated by the equipment, together with the other conditions that influence the propagation towards the receivers, require the choice of panels which may differ case by case. For this reason an ad-hoc optimization of the internal structure of the panels may be needed. This article proposes a procedure allowing the selection of the best sandwich structure able to contain the noise on the base of some characteristics such as the weight, the maximum thickness, the cost and the environmental sustainability.