Predicting the scattering from reflectors and diffusers using two-dimensional boundary element methods

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that two-dimensional boundary element methods are fast and efficient techniques for predicting the scattering from reflectors and diffusers. Of particular interest in this study were diffusers used in auditoria. The scattered pressure distributions were closely predicted by the boundary element methods, which is often sufficient for acousticians. The absolute scattering magnitude was not always well predicted. Consequently, two different techniques have been developed which compensate for predicting the inherently three-dimensional problems using two-dimensional methods. The compensations work very well for mid to high frequencies. They also work better for scattering near the geometric scattering angle.