Prediction of sound radiation using reconstructed acoustic free velocity sources

A complicated source can be represented by a series of acoustic free velocity sources. The sound pressure at a position in the field can be predicted by summing the products of the acoustic free velocity source strengths and their respective transfer functions. These transfer functions relate the sound pressure in the field to the acoustic source strength. In this research, the sound pressure is measured at positions in the free field and then is used to determine the acoustic free velocity source strengths via an inverse method. The approach is applied to characterize a laboratory source with high directivity. It is then demonstrated that the sources can be used to predict the insertion loss of a barrier introduced to block the source from the receiver.