Estimation of sound power of baffled planar sources using radiation matrices

A technique is presented in this paper for the analysis of acoustic radiation of baffled planar sources. This method is based on the concept of the radiation matrix which is a representation of the sound field radiated by complex sources. Both sound power and far-field pressure can be estimated using this method. Numerical simulation and experimental investigation were carried out to verify the proposed method. In comparison with the conventional pressure-based method ISO 3745. the proposed technique produced more accurate estimation of sound power. With comparable number of measuring positions as the conventional methods, the proposed approach does not require special measuring environments. Computation complexity can be significantly reduced if only dominant radiation modes in the low-frequency range are retained. Estimation of far-field pressure can also be obtained using the proposed method. (C) 2002 Acoustical Society of America.