Experimental and numerical validation of vibration-based sound power measurements of arbitrarily curved panels

Abstract

Vibration-based sound power (VBSP) measurement methods are of interest due to their potential versatility in application compared to methods based on sound-pressure or sound-intensity. The VBSP method is based on the elementary radiator approach that relies on the acoustic radiation resistance matrix. Previous work has validated the form of the radiation resistance matrix for flat plates, cylindrical- and spherical-shells, and simple-curved plates. A form specific to arbitrarily curved structures has not been developed. Experimental VBSP measurements of two arbitrarily curved panels are shown to have excellent agreement with results from the ISO 3741 method. The VBSP method was applied by using the simple-curved plate form of the radiation resistance matrix and mapping each arbitrarily curved panel with a constant-radius curve fit. Numerical boundary element models, that inherently use the true form of the radiation resistance matrix, were also used to compute the sound power from the same curved panels. Surface velocity data from the numerical models were used to also compute sound power using the VBSP method with the simple-curved plate form of the radiation resistance matrix. Sound power results show excellent agreement between the numerical model and VBSP method. [Work supported by the National Science Foundation.]