The loudspeaker manufacturer, DALI, currently uses FEA and BEM in the development of the drivers and the bass reflex ports in their loudspeakers, and has a wish of expanding their simulation-driven methodology to also include the design of the cabinets.

In this project, it is demonstrated how the simulation-driven design approach can be expanded to also include the design of the cabinet. The project takes point of departure in the Rubicon 6 loudspeaker, but the presented procedure can also be applied to other loudspeaker cabinets.

A benchmark harmonic analysis, that prioritizes accuracy over computational efficiency, is developed and validated against an experiment measuring the accelerations of the cabinet using accelerometers. The benchmark model is then simplified to a computationally faster design model, giving similar results to the benchmark model. The positions of the internal support structures are parameterized and optimized using a genetic algorithm with the objective function of minimizing the maximum equivalent radiated power level of all exterior MDF surfaces of the cabinet. The result is a cabinet that has a reduced level of equivalent radiated power compared to the existing design, by only moving the already existing supports to another position.

Additionally, a general bracing structure is proposed and optimized which demonstrates that no knowledge about the response of the cabinet is required to produce a design which is better than the existing design.