I collected this info because i am designing exhaust for my bike
I dont know if i can post this much in a single post but i am still posting it.
Exhaust Muffler Design Principles
Basic Concepts
Internal combustion engines are typically equipped with an exhaust muffler to suppress the acoustic pulse generated by the combustion process. A high intensity pressure wave generated by combustion in the engine cylinder propagates along the exhaust pipe and radiates from the exhaust pipe termination. The pulse repeats at the firing frequency of the engine which is defined by f=(engine rpm x number of cylinders)/120 for a four stroke engine. The frequency content of exhaust noise is dominated by a pulse at the firing frequency, but it also has a broadband component to its spectrum which extends to higher frequencies. Measurements of the exhaust pipe pressure pulse on a Continental O-200 engine [4] show that the majority of the pulse energy lies in the frequency range of 0-600 Hz. Exhaust mufflers are designed to reduce sound levels at these frequencies.
In general, sound waves propagating along a pipe can be attenuated using either a dissipative or a reactive muffler. A dissipative muffler uses sound absorbing material to take energy out of the acoustic motion in the wave, as it propagates through the muffler. Reactive silencers, which are commonly used in automotive applications, reflect the sound waves back towards the source and prevent sound from being transmitted along the pipe. Reactive silencer design is based either on the principle of a Helmholtz resonator or an expansion chamber, and requires the use of acoustic transmission line theory.
In a Helmholtz resonator design a cavity is attached to the exhaust pipe. At a specific frequency the cavity will resonate and the waves in the exhaust pipe are reflected back towards the source. However there are also pass band frequencies where the resonator has no effect and so resonator muffler design is targeted to specific frequencies where the majority of the attenuation is required. In some designs, the muffler has several resonators of different sizes to target a range of frequencies.Expansion chamber mufflers reflect waves by introducing a sudden change in cross sectional area in the pipe. They do not have the high attenuation of the Hemholtz resonator, but have a broadband frequency characteristic, with pass bands when half the acoustic wavelength equals the cavity length. Their performance also deteriorates at higher frequencies when the cross axis dimension of the muffler is 82% of the acoustic wavelength (Davis, Stokes, Moore and Stevens [5]). Some expansion chamber muffler systems are also packed with sound absorbing material which helps to improve the high frequency attenuation.
In all muffler designs the tailpipe length can have an important effect. The tailpipe itself acts as a resonant cavity that couples with the muffler cavity. The attenuation characteristics of a muffler are modified if the design tailpipe is not used. Also, the effect of exhaust gas flow speed has a detrimental effect on the muffler performance. Beranek[6] gives examples in which the muffler attenuation is reduced from 35 dB to 6-10dB when the flow speed is increased from zero to 230 ft/sec. In typical industrial or diesel truck engine applications the exhaust flow speed can be 164 ft/sec to 390 ft/sec [6]. The effect of flow is related to the interaction of sound with turbulence and will be dependent on the internal design of the muffler.




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