Response of a cylindrical shell to random acoustic excitation

Abstract

Response and equivalent force spectra have been investigated for random acoustic excitation of a cylindrical shell within a narrow frequency band of relatively low-modal density. Theoretical and experimental results are compared for single-point transfer functions, acoustic mobility functions, response and equivalent force power spectral densities, and coherence functions. In general, it is found that a purely theoretical prediction of response based on linear random process theory is severely limited because of the inability of currently available expressions for transfer functions to account for various deviations which result principally from imperfections and eccentricities in the cylinder. However, good agreement is achieved between measured response and that calculated with measured transfer functions. It is further indicated that a rather coarse discrete representation of a continuously distributed excitation is possible.