Structural and acoustic analysis of multiactuator panels

Multiactuator panels are a possible solution to satisfying the requirement of a large number of loudspeaker channels inherent in wavefield synthesis. The structural acoustic behavior of multiactuator panels has been measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer, and acoustic radiation simulation has been performed using a discretized Rayleigh I integral. The analysis showed that, due to large structural damping, the acoustic radiation is generated almost entirely by the structural near field around the excitation point on the panel, but it is influenced to a large extent by the panel dimensions and the exciter position. The radiation principle of a distributed-mode loudspeaker from the literature is briefly contrasted.