Ananalyticalstudywaspresentedonactivecontrolofsoundtransmissionintoavibro-acousticenclosurecomprisingtwoflexibleplates.Twotypesofactuatorswereused,i.e.acousticactuatoranddistributedleadzirconatetitanatepiezoelectric(PZT)actuatorinsteadofpointforceactuator.Usingthemodalacoustictransferimpedance-mobilitymatrices,theexcitationandinteractioninthecoupledsoundtransmissionsystemcanbedescribedwithclearphysicalsignificance.Withthecontrolsystemdesignedtogloballyreducethesoundfield,differentcontrolsystemconfigurationswereconsidered,includingthestructuralactuatorontheincidentplate,actuatoronthereceivingplate,acousticactuatoronthecavity,andtheircombinations.Theeffectivenessandperformanceofthecontrolstrategycorrespondingtoeachsystemconfigurationwerecomparedanddiscussed.Theroleandcontrolmechanismofeachtypeofactuatorwereofparticularinterest.Itwasshownthattheincidentplateactuatoriseffectiveincontrollingthecavity-dominatedmodesandthestructuralmodesdominatedbytheincidentplateandreceivingplate.Twomaincontrolmechanismsareinvolvedinthiscontrolconfiguration,i.e.,modalsuppressingandmodalrearrangement.Forcontrolsystemconfigurationwithonlyacousticactuatorintheenclosure,themechanisminvolvedinthisarrangementispurelymodalsuppression.Desirableplacementsofstructuralactuatorsintermsoftotalpotentialenergyreductionwerealsodiscussed.
