The paper surveys numerical practices used to predict and mitigate vibroacoustic loads inside composite payload fairings across liftoff and early ascent. Novelty lies in a unified mapping between exterior-source solvers and interior structure–cavity models, linking unsteady RANS for launch-pad environments with FE–SEA backbones, transfer-matrix screening for multilayer curved shells, and FE–BEM spot checks. The review compares transmission-control options suitable for composite structures, including locally resonant liners, partial porous fills, micro-perforated hierarchical sandwiches, and high-intensity nonlinear stacks, against mass and manufacturability constraints.

Special attention is given to deflector-induced source shaping, coherence-preserving load transfer, and parameter identification for blanket and liner impedances. The objective is to distill a staged workflow that reconciles accuracy with design-cycle cost while sustaining qualification margins for avionics. Methods include comparative synthesis, model-taxonomy analysis, and normalization of reported vibroacoustic metrics to one-third-octave SPL and transmission loss.

Because vibroacoustic qualification margins are mission-critical for launch vehicles, and because composite fairings represent an area of engineering central to the aerospace sector, these modeling strategies support industry reliability in advanced structural–acoustic design.

vibroacoustics, payload fairing, launch vehicle, composite sandwich shells, FE–SEA, URANS, FE–BEM coupling, transfer-matrix method, micro-perforated panels, resonant liners

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