The wave superposition method as a robust technique

for computing acoustic fields

R. Jeans and I.C. Mathews
ImperialCollegeof Technology,
Science
andMedicine,DepartmentofAeronautics,
PrinceConsort
Road,
LondonSW72B IS,England

(Received6 April 1991;revised9 April 1992;accepted12April 1992)

The wavesuperposition methodhasrecentlybeenadvocated[Koopmannet al., "A method
for computingacousticfieldsbasedon the principleof wavesuperposition," J. Acoust.Soc.
Am. 86, 2433-2438 (1989) ], asa reliableand accuratetechniquefor computingthe acoustic
fieldsgeneratedby arbitrary-shapedradiators;this studyexaminesin depththe robustness and
numericalstabilityof the method.The implementationof the methodrequiresthe placement
of a finitenumberof point sourceson a surfaceinterior to the bodyof the radiator.The
magnitudeof thesepoint sourcescanbe evaluatedin termsof the prescribedvelocity
distributionon the surfaceof the radiator. Oncecalculated,the magnitudeof thesepoint
sourcesallow the pressuredistributionexteriorto the radiatorto be evaluated.The first
improvementmadeto the robustness of the methodis the useof a hybrid combinationof
monopoleand dipolesources;this modificationallowsthe inherentproblemof nonuniqueness
of the methodat certainfrequencies to be overcome.Both discretepoint and continuoussource
distributionsare usedto evaluatethe methodon a varietyof testcasesinvolvingboth spherical
andprolatespheroidgeometries. The primemotivationfor usingsucha methodis the
avoidanceof the singularintegrationinherentis the applicationof the normalboundary
elementmethods,however,for the methodto be successful, the resultingmatrix
approximationsneedto be well-conditioned.This numericalconditioningwasfound to be
dependentnot only on the positionof the boundaryand the sourcenodalpointsbut alsoon the
interpolationor the locationof thesesourceson the retractedsurface.
PACS numbers: 43.20. Ye, 43.30. Nb, 43.85.Vb, 43.20.Rz

INTRODUCTION tudeof the simplesourcesis calculatedby equatingthe nor-

mal velocityprescribed on thesurfaceof theradiatorto that
In the lastfew yearsmuch work hasbeendevotedto the generatedby the arrayof simplesources. This is performed
numericalmodelingof complexacousticfields.Traditional- at thesamenumberof pointsastherearesimplesourcesand
ly a finite-elementapproachto theseproblemshasbeenthe consequently a systemof equationsis generated.The solu-
moreestablished solutiontechnique,however,the boundary tion to this equationset givesthe magnitudeof the simple
elementmethod (BEM) hasemergedasthe preferredsolu- sources;from thesevaluesan exteriorpressurefield can be
tion method,especiallyfor free-fieldradiationproblems. calculated.
Researchers
1-4intotheBEM haveshownthesuitability Although the superpositionmethod describedabove
and accuracy of the method. However, there are several circumventsthe problemof uniqueness
of solutionfoundin
problemsassociated with the numericalimplementationof BEMs, a formulation that constrainsthe interior point
the BEM. The mostimportantof theseproblemsisthesingu- sources to be on an interior surface does become ill-condi-
larity presentin the integralequationsand the nonunique- tioned at another set of critical wave numbers. These wave
nessof the solutionat criticalwavenumbers.Althoughthese numberscorrespond to theeigenvalues of theunrelatedDir-
problemscan be solved,thereis invariablyan associatedin- ichletprobleminteriorto thesourcesurface.The superposi-
creasein the complexityandcomputationalsizeof the prob- tion integralis nowequivalentto a singlelayersourcedistri-
lem. Therefore, a solution method that circumvents these bution and as such can be shown to have a nonunique
problemsis of great interest. solutionat theseeigenvalues. Although,it is possibleto re-
Superpositionmethodshave long beenusedas bench- duce the interior sourcesurfaceso that any critical wave
mark testsfor other numericalanalysesof acousticfieldsand numberslie outsidethe frequencyrangeof interest,thereis
recentlyKoopmannet al.,5 suggested that a superposition alsoa potentiallossin numericalstability.In this paper,a
methodcouldbe extendedinto a generalsolutiontechnique numericalstrategywill be presentedthat circumventsthis
for calculatingacousticfields.In the work of Koopmann uniqueness problem,allowingthe optimumchoiceof interi-
et al., a complexradiatoris replacedby an array of simple or surfaceto be made, in order to obtain the maximum im-
monopolesourcesof unknownmagnitudeconstrainedto lie provementin numericalstabilityof the solution.
on a surfaceinterior to the body of the radiator. The magni- The problemof uniqueness has beenovercomein this

1156 J. Acoust.Soc. Am. 92 (2), Pt. 1, August1992 0001-4966/92/081156-11500.80 1992 AcousticalSocietyof America 1156

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studyby consideringthe superpositionintegralin termsof a A timedependence
of e - ioot
isassumed
andqo(r) istheinte-
hybridcombinationof singleand doublelayer potentials.A rior sourcestrengthdefinedby
similar solutionto the problem of uniquenessin BEMs is
discussed
by Filippi6andColtonandKress.
AsnotedbyKoopmann
7
etal.5it ispossible
touse/derive
qo(r) q(r),
= 0, _Dexcluding
fl. (2)
a superposition
integraleitherby assumingthat the source Using Eq. (1) the modified interior Helmholtz integral
distribution and Green's function are constant over each in- equationcan be developedin a similar way to the standard
terior elementor by allowingthe sourcedistributionand the interiorHelmholtzequation
andisgivenby
Green's function to vary in some manner and the kernel
functionto be evaluatedusingGaussianquadrature.In this
paperthe firstmethodis denotedasthe Point-Source Super- iwpu.
(ro)G
(r,ro)
--p(ro)ant,
' dSr,,
positionMethod (PSM). Resultsare alsopresentedfor the
secondmethod that is denotedas the Integrated-SourceSu-
perpositionMethod (ISM); the sourcedistributionand ge-
+fiwpq(ro)G
(r,
ro)dVr,,
=Cz(r)p(r),(3)
ometry are approximatedby the useof quadraticinterpola- G (r,ro)= ( 1/4r)eir, r = Ir -- rol,
tion functionsdefinedusingnine nodedsurfaceelements.
C (r) hasthevalues1,0.5, and0 for r in D, S, andE, respec-
I. THE SUPERPOSITION INTEGRAL tively. The unrelatedexterior Helmholtz equationis inde-
For a bodyradiatingwith a prescribedsurfacevelocityit pendentof the interior sourcedistribution and identical to
is desirableto calculatethe exteriorpressurefield.The prin- the exterior Helmholtz equationfor a real surfaceS with
cipleof wavesuperpositionshowsthat the acousticsolution prescribednormal velocitydistributionu. This equationis
for someradiatingbodyisequivalentto the acousticsolution definedby
of somesourcedistributioninterior to the body. If both sys-

)8Gk
(r,ro)_iwpu
(ro)Gk
dSr,
=CE(r)p(r),
tems satisfythe sameNeumann boundaryconditionon the
surfaceof the body thenthe pressuredistributionsgenerated (ro 8nro
by both are equivalentsince an exterior pressurefield is (4)
unique for a prescribedboundary condition. Koopmann
CE(r) hasthe values0, 0.5, and 1for r in D, S, andE, respec-
et al. proposedthat the solutionof the equivalentsuperposi-
tively.
tion formulationof a problemoffersmany significantadvan-
In the sourcedistributionmodel of the vibratingbody,
tagesovera BEM solutionthe sameproblem.The validity of
the surfaceS is a constructionindicatingwherethe normal
the superpositionmethod can be shown in the following
velocitydistributionis prescribed.Consequently,the pres-
way.
Consider a continuous distribution of sources contained sure and velocity distributionsacrossthe surfacemust be
in a volume fl. This source distribution is interior to a closed continuous.When r is taken to be on $, Eqs. (3) and (4)
combineto give
fictitioussurfaceS on which there is a prescribednormal
velocity distributionu,. The volume enclosedby S is de-
noted D and the volume exterior to S is denoted E. This p(r)
--fiwpq(ro)Gk
(r,
ro)dVro. (5)
geometryis shownin Fig. 1. Equation (5) is the superpositionintegral.Associatedwith
Applyingtheprincipleof massconservation
8to thevol- this equationis its differentiatedform, definedby
ume enclosedby $ leadsto a modifiedreducedwave equa-

u.(r)= fq(ro)
8G (r,
ro)dV (6)
tion definedby
8n r'
V2p(r)d-k 2p(r)-- iwpqo(r),rD. ( 1) ro

II. UNIQUENESS

In the derivation of Eqs. (5) and (6) the Helmholtz

integralequationsare circumventedand for a sourcedomain
that containsno interior volume, numerical implementa-
tionsof theseequationsare uniqueat all frequencies.How-
ever, the choice of volume fi is arbitrary and for easeof
numerical implementationit is best to locate the interior
source distribution over an interior surface S' of small thick-
ness6-.However,the superpositionintegralwill nowexhibit
nonuniqueness at critical wave numbers.This nonunique-
nesscan be demonstratedin the following manner.
For the casewhere fi is chosento be a thin shell, Eqs.
( 5 ) and (6) become,

FIG. 1. The geometryfor formulatingthe superposition

integral.
p(r) = Skopq(ro)G (r,ro)6ZdSro'
t (7)

1157 J. Acoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August 1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1157

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 chosentobe1/k to compensate
fortheorderoffrequency
(r)=fs
Un o9Gk
'q(r) (r,r
o)6rdS'
Cnr,, ro
' (8) terms
in theintegral
operators.
Theadvantageofthesuper-
In thelimitasthethickness
of thesurfaceS' becomeszero, positionmethodusingthishybridformulationisthatthereis
these equations
showthepressure beingdefined no high-ordersingularityin the 4/ operatorsincethe
distribution
intermsofasinglelayerpotential.
Usingthefollowingnota- source surface
S' isnotcoincident
withtheboundary surface
tion: $. It shouldbenoted,however, thatin regionswherethereis
a highdensity of criticalwavenumbers, a highdegreeof
accuracy
isneededto reducetherangeofwavenumbers over
*k[b]
(r)=fsb(ro)G
(r,
ro)dX
o, (9) whichthe nonhybridoperatorsare ill-conditioned,
the hybrid formulationis efficient.
sothat

=fs
'[b](r) cG
(r,r
,b(ro) o)dS''
On,,, , (10) III. NUMERICAL FORMULATION

A numerical implementation of thesuperpositioninte-

gral has several advantages over a BEM. A major factorin
4/k[b](r) =
s c2G
' (r'r)
b(ro)
nronr
dS'
r'
(11)
anyBEM isthenumerical treatment ofthesingularities
that
inevitably occurin theformulation. In the superposition
it ispossible to writeEqs.(7) and(8) in termsofa single methodthesourcedistribution is interiorto thebodyand
layerpotential alongwithan associated expression
for the therefore notcoincident. Consequently thereisnosingular-
pressure distribution in termsof a doublelayerpotential. ity in theGreen'sfunctionof Eqs.(18) and (19).
Theseexpressions aredefinedby In Eqs. ( 18) and (19) the surfaceS' canbe discretized
into a numberof elementsn. The nodesof the interior source
p(r) = iwp. [ s ] (r), (12)
elements
musteachhavea corresponding
surface
node.Us-
Un(r)= tT[ps
] (r), (13) ingthedefinitions
ofprevious
researchers
thecorresponding
(r) = icop [ d ] (r), (14) node on the interior sourcesurfaceis known asthe self-node.
This definition can be extendedto refer to the self-element
Un(r)= 4 [Pa] (r). (15)
which is the sourcesurfaceelement that containsthe self-
Consider thecaseof thesinglelayerpotentialformula- node.Equation(19) canbeapproximated
numerically
by
tionfor Un = 0 onS. Sincethepressure fieldexteriortoS' is
uniqueforallwavenumbers thenUn+ = 0 andp+ = 0 onS '.
Thesuperscript indicates
thepressure or velocityevaluated Un(r)__;sj(CGk(r'ro)
j=1 Cnr+ ivc2G(r,ro))
ir iro (r)dSr'
(20)
ontheexterior( + ) orinterior( - ) surfaceof$'. Byconsi-
deration ofthesurface discontinuities
in theintegral opera- For thePSMit isassumed
thatthekernelof Eq. (20)
tors andk, it ispossible towriteEqs.(12) and( 13) and P(ro)is constantwithin the elementsand it canbe writ-
in thelimit asr tendsto roonS' fromtheexteriorandinteri- ten in matrix form by
or domains.Theseequationsare
(Un}= DA(}, (21)
P+ (ro)=P- (ro)= iwPk [s] (ro), (16)
with
Un
+ (ro)= u-(ro)-- s
(ro)= ([ -- I)[s
] (ro).
(17) ron i
Dij = G :(r)
Equation(16) showsthat the pressure
distribution
is
continuous across
thesinglelayersurface
andconsequently
ifp + = 0 thenp- = 0. FromEq.(17) withUn+ = 0, Ps
is +iv G(r) --
nonzerowhenu/-%0. Sincep- = 0 this only occursat
eigenvalues
of theDirichletprobleminteriorto S'. At these
frequencies,
Pswill havea nontrivialsolutionfor a zerove-
r = ri rj, r = Irl (22)

locitydistribution
onS.ThismeansthatPs
isnotunique
at andthediagonalmatrixA is givenby
thesecriticalwavenumbersandthenumerical
implementa-
tion ofEq. (13) will becomeill-conditioned.A similartreat-
mentforthedouble
Paisnonunique
layerpotentialshowsthatin Eq. (15),
at theinterioreigenvalues
of theNeumann
a4
ii=fS
idS. (23)
problem interior to S'. In Eq.(21), {Un} isthevector
containing
thenvalues
of
To eliminatetheproblemof uniquenessat criticalwave Unevaluatedat the pointsri on the boundarysurfacethat
numbers,
a hybridcombination of singleanddoublelayer correspond to the n nodalpointsdefinedon theinteriorsur-
potentials
is used.The formulation
for the superposition facerj. The sourcesurfacenodalpointsaredefinedat the
problem becomes centroid ofthesource surface
element.Thevector{p}con-
(r) = iwp( + ir/) [p](r), (18) tainsthe n values of pjevaluated
on theinteriorsource sur-
faceandAjpjcorresponds to theamplitude of pointsource
Un(r) = (r q_ir/4/) [](r). (19)
radiators
situated
at theinteriornodalpositions. Thediscre-
The valueof therealconstant r/in Eqs.(18) and (19) is tizedformofEq.(18) isdefined in a similarwaytoEq. (22),

! 158 J.Acoust.
Soc.Am.,Vol.92,No.2,Pt.1,August
!992 R.Jeans
andI.C.Mathews:
Wave
superposition
method 1158

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 (p - M,,I(), (24) Un(r) = -- u(r).n= -- (p/cop)n.ke
a'rr, (33)
with where u is the fluid particle velocityon the boundarysur-
facein the absenceof any interior sourcedistribution,gener-
Mij= icop{Gk
(r) + ilG,(r)[ (r.nj)/r]}. (25) ated by the incident pressurewave. The incident pressure
wavehasamplitudePt and wavevectork.
Equations(21 ) and (24) canbe combinedto givean expres-
sionfor p in termsof Un. This is written as IV. MATRIX CONDITION NUMBER
(p) : MD -l(Un). (26) A well-recognized failingof the superposition
methodis
In the PSM the principalassumptionis that the interpo- the ill-conditioningof the generatedmatrices.This lack of
lation of the sourcedistributionin Eq. (20) is givenby conditioningis due to the numericalinstabilityof Fredholm
b= tS(ro,
r) b, (27) equations
ofthefirstkind.o,Onelossofconditioning
isdue
to the lossof diagonaldominanceas the sourcesurfaceis
wheretS(ro,
rj ) isoneat thenodalpointdefining
theelement retractedfrom the boundarysurface.Computationallythe
andzerootherwise, andbjis thenodalvalueof thesource lossof conditioningmeansthat smallchangesin the surface
distributionfor the element.For the ISM a differentassump-
tion is made. Within the element the source distribution is
velocitydistributioncan have a large effecton the source
distribution.
FollowingGolubandVan Loan12a condition-
givenby
ing number can be calculatedthat givesa measureof the
= (N e}T{j}, (28) sensitivityof a linear system.The matrix problem for the
PSM or ISM can be stated as
where{N e) is the vectorof elementshapefunctionsand
{pJ)isthevectorofelement
nodalvaluesofthesourcedistri- {Un} -- D{b}. (34)
bution. The numerical approximation given by Eq. (20) If the boundary velocity distribution is perturbed by an
now becomes
amount{tSUn
} thenfor thislinearsystem,
(&b} = D -l(6Un), (35)
j=1 ' Onrq-iv 6rtr 6rtro ' and from the propertiesof vector and matrix norms,

X {N e}rdSro
{bj}. (29) Ila11
IIll
<iiD- 'r111Sun
I
IIll '
(36)
The numericalintegrationin Eq. (20) canbe performedus- Ilunll<llOII IIll. (37)
ing simpleGaussianquadraturesincethereis no singularity
for retractedsourcesurfaces.A matrix equationset can be Thereforethe perturbationin Un is relatedto the pertur-
assembledfor the acousticformulation eliminating b,the bationin by meansof the conditionnumberg,
globalvectorof nodalsourcestrengths,
rl11 , (38)
{p}=MiD-i{Un}. (30)
In this studythe interior nodal pointsfor both the PSM = lid II lid -'11. (39)
and ISM were generatedin the sameway. Sinceonly the In this study the conditioningnumber is calculatedin
nodalpointfor the elementisneededin the PSM, thesenodal terms of Euclideanmatrix norms.The equality in Eq. (38)
pointscan correspondto the nodal pointsfor the ISM. To statesthat the conditioningof the matrix equationset is re-
optimizeto conditioningof theD andD matrices,the defin- lated to g. However, the accuracy of the matrix equation
ition of the boundaryand sourcesurfacenodalpointsis criti- solutionneed not be directly related to this quantity. This
cal. Followingpreviouswork the interior sourcepointsare conditionnumber cannotreflect the improvementin solu-
definedby tion accuracythat is possibleif the symmetryrelationship
rj = ri -- dni, (31) for nodal point placementis observed.The superposition
where d is defined as the retraction distance. The relation- problem definedin Eq. (34) can be written in terms of a
singularvaluedecomposition,
ship in Eq. (31 ) is not sufficientto ensureoptimum condi-
tioning. The boundarynodal pointshave to be definedso (Un} = (40)
that
The squarematrixesX and Yrepresentorthogonalmatrices
It/-- rj Ij%i> Ir/-- rj lj= i' (32) andthediagonal
matrixg2, representstheeigenvalues
ofthe
This relationshipensuresthat thereis optimumsymme- symmetricmatrixD rD. Thesolutiontotheproblemisgiven
try and diagonal dominanceof the equation set. This re- by
quirementis important in reducingthe degreeof ill-condi- =
tioningof theformulation,however,sucha restrictionon the
positioningof the boundarysurfacenodal pointswill be in- wherethe subscriptX and Y represents the projectionof the
dependentof the appliedboundaryconditions. vectorontotherespectiveorthogonalmatrix. If the matrixD
For radiationproblemsUn is simplythe prescribedsur- is nearly symmetricthen the sourcedistributionand the
face normal velocity. For plane-wavescatteringUn can be boundaryvelocitydistributionwill be expressedin termsof
shown
9 to beequalto thesameorthogonal
matrix.An eigenvalue
analysis
3of Eq.

1159 J. Acoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1159

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(34) showsthat whenD is symmetricthe eigenvalues of this
equationare perfectlyconditioned.Thereforeincreasingthe Single layer
symmetryof the superposition matrix significantlyimproves
the overallconditioningof the numericalformulation.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
V. VELOCITY RECONSTRUCTION ERROR NORM

In orderto selectthe optimumpositionof interiornodal

points a measureof the solutionaccuracyis needed.This
maybe doneby an apriori knowledgeof the boundarypres-
suredistribution.However, this is clearly not alwayspossi-
ble. Another measureof the accuracyof the superposition
methodistheextentto which'theprescribed
normalbound-
ary velocityis reconstructedby the sourcedistribution.By
usingthe numericalapproximationsof either the PSM or
ISM the reconstructedsurfacenormal velocityis givenby -4 , I , I I , I !

6.278 6.280 6.282 6.284 6.286 ka 6.288

hn(r) = (D(r))rD -l(un}. (42)
When r correspondsto a boundarysurfacenodal point r i i

then clearly, Double layer

n(ri) =Un(ri). (43)
For otherpointstherewill howeverbesomedifferencein the
0 K
prescribedand calculatedsurfacenormal velocitiesand a 0 0 n _
measureof this differenceis the velocityreconstructionerror 0 0 0 0 0 o O0 0 0 0 0 o i

norm,

= II - Iio/11 Iio, (44)

where

Ilu
--fi11
=fs(u
--)(u--)*dS. (45)
This error norm will be closely linked to the error in the
boundarysurfacepressureandcanbeusedto selectthe opti-
mum interior nodalpositionswithout an apriori knowledge -4 I I : I :
8.982 8.984 8.986 8.988 ka 8.990
of the boundarysurfacepressuredistribution.

FIG. 2. The effectof the hybridformulationon the eliminationof critical

VI. NUMERICAL RESULTS
The superposition formulationswereappliedto spheri-
cal and spheroidalscatteringand radiationproblems.These
boundarysurfaceswere chosendue to the cylindricalsym-
metry that existsfor appropriateboundaryconditions.In all
casesone quarter of the boundary surface is discretized,
makinguseof the problemsymmetryto reducethe problem
size.In orderto optimizethe symmetryof the resultingsu-
perpositionmatricesthe surfacenodalpointsare distributed
as evenlyaspossibleover the boundarysurface.
Figure 2 contraststhe nonuniqueness characteristicsat
critical wavenumbersof the singleand doublelayer formu-
lationswith that of the hybrid formulation.A constantnor-
mal velocitydistributionis prescribedfor a spherewith radi-
usa andthesourcesurfaceis retractedby 0.5a.Thesegraphs
show the variation of the conditionnumbercand velocity
reconstruction error norm a comparedto ka for the spheri-
cal problem.For the sphericalgeometrythe critical wave
numbers will occur at
k(a - d) = kn.
For the breathingmodeproblem,kois equalto rr and4.493
for the singlelayerand doublelayerproblems,respectively.
The lossof conditioningis clearly shownat thesepoints
wavenumbersfor the singlelayeranddoublelayerPSM formulations.The
resultsare for a spherewith constantno.rnalvelocitydistribution
and
d = 0.5. The solidline represents
the hybrid formulation.
alongwith the resultinglossin numericalaccuracyfor the
singleand doublelayer formulations.The hybrid formula-
tionremovesthe problemofnonuniqueness at thesefrequen-
cies.
The potential accuracyof both the PSM and ISM for
calculatingthebackscattered form functionfor bothspheres
and spheroidsis shownin Figs. 3 and 4. In Fig. 3 the PSM
andISM appliedto the sphericalproblemis comparedto an
analyticalresult9 and a BEM result.TMThe retractiondis-
tanceis taken to be 0.5a. The superpositionmethodresults
shownveryhigh accuracydueto the high degreeof symme-
try betweenthesphericalboundaryandsourcesurfaces. The
symmetryof the resultingmatricessignificantlyimproves
theconditioningof the problemsothat highaccuracyis pos-
(46) sible. The reduced size of the source surface elements com-
paredto the corresponding boundarysurfaceelementsalso
allowsthe superpositionmethodsto have a more accurate
surfacerepresentationfor this particularexample.

1160 J. Acoust.Soc.Am.,Vol.92, No.2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. JeansandI. C. Mathews:Wavesuperposition

method 1160

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 1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0 -
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 ka 2.5

FIG. 3.Thefar-field
formfunction
forplanewavebackscattering
fora sphere.
Thesuperposition
results
arecompared
against
a BEMandanalytical
result.

Figure4 showsthesamecomparison for thespheroidal metric BEM solutionwith a large numberof elementsand
backscattering
problem.The spheroid hasan aspectratioof theseresultsarecalculated
by a programwrittenby Wu5
a/b = 0.5, wherea and b representthe minor and major using40 quadraticlineelements.
The PSM resultsshowsat-
radii,respectively,
anda retractiondistanceof 0.4bis used. isfactoryaccuracywhilethe BEM resultsshowhighaccura-
A converged solutionis takento bethe resultof an axisym- cy comparedto the lessaccurateresultsof the ISM. The

1.2

=
o...,
1.0 &

&&
' 0.8

0.6

0.4

wu
0.2 BEM n=24
a PSM n=113
a ISM n=24

0.0 I , I , I , I ,
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 ka 2.5

FIG. 4.Thefar-field
formfunction
forplane-wave
backscattering
fora spheroid
witha/b = 0.5.Thesuperposition
results
arecompared
against
a BEMresult
and resultscalculatedby S. W. Wu.

1161 J. Acoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1161

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resultsof the ISM suggests that the solutionaccuracyis de-
pendenton the conditioningof the superposition matrices.
In orderto illustratethat theaccuracyof thesuperposi-
tion methodis dependenton the retractiondistance,the far-
fieldscatteredpressurewascalculatedfor the problemof a
plane-wave
incidentupona sphere.An errorquantitye is
defined as the error of the far-field backscattered form func-
tion with respectto the resultfor a 96 elementBEM calcula-
tion.The variationof the logof thiserrortogetherwith the
log of the velocity reconstructionerror norm, a has been
plottedin Fig. 5 asa functionof d/a, for a ka - 1. Figure
5(a) showsthe resultsfor the pointsuperposition method

PSM

-5
1.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/a

i i i i

ISM

-5 ' ' I , I I I ,
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/a

FIG.5.Thevariation
ofeanda against
d/a forasphere
calculated
using
thePSMandISM.Thelogoftheerrorvalues
isplotted.
(a) PSMwithn = 33.(b)
ISM with n = 6.

1162 J. Acoust.Soc.Am.,Vol.92, No.2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. JeansandI. C. Mathews:Wavesuperposition

method 1162

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and Fig. 5(b) for the integratedsuperposition
method.
The condition number of the solution matrix for both
superposition methodsis given in Fig. 6(a) and (b). The
resultsfor the sphericaland spheroidalgeometriesare pre-
sented.Comparisonof the error measures in Fig. 5(a) with
the conditionnumberof the matrix generatedwith spherical
PSM in Fig. 6(a) indicateslittle correspondence between
thesequantities.As the velocityreconstructionerror norm,
a is lessthan the far-field error, the matrices are conditioned
suchthat the accuracyis dependentonly on the orderof the
interpolationof the sourcedistribution.As the sourcesur-
face is moved closer to the boundary surface,both error
quantitiesincreaseuntil the velocity reconstructionerror
norm, a is greater than the error in the far-field back-

2O i

----a---

n=33
Spheroid
----a---n=417
n=113Spheroid
Sphereoid

10

0 i I I I i I
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/b
(a)

2O

ISM
----a--- n=6 Spheroid
' n=24Spheroid
-' n=96 Spheroid
- n=6Sphere

0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/b 1.0
lb)
FIG. 6. The log of the superposition
matrix conditionnumberasa functionof d/b. (a) PSM. (b) ISM.

1163 J. Acoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1163

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scattered form function e.
The resultsfor the ISM, shownin Fig. 5(b), indicate
that betweend/a = 0.9 and0.5 the trendin the conditioning
of theproblem,shownin Fig. 6(b) andtheerrorindicatorsa
and e is similar. For this rangeof retractiondistancesthe
degreeof symmetryin the problemincreases, until at about
d = 0.5 the problembecamesufficiently well-conditioned to
allow very accurate solutionsto be attained. The far-field
error a increasesas d tends to zero, while the error in the
internodalvelocityreconstructionremainssmall.The accu-
racy in the formulation couldbe increasedfor theselow re-
tractionratiosby simplyusingthe singularintegrationtech-
niquesusedin the BEM.
The velocity reconstructionerror a and the far-field

i i

PSM

-4
0.0 1.0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/b
(8)

PSM

-2 , I , I , I I
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 d/b 1.0
(b)

FIG. 7. The variationof the errorvaluesfor the spheroidalproblemat kb -- 1.0usingthe PSM. (a) Far-fielderror. (b) Velocityreconstruction
errornorm.

1164 J. Acoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August 1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1164

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 i

ISM i
i

i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i

n:6
n :24
n =96

-4
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
d/b

ISM

ii
Ii
It

2 -

/ '
/-"
]/ ,,
// ;
;

n=6
n =24
n=96

-2 , I i I , I I
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
(b) d/b
FIG. 8. Thevariationoftheerrorvaluesforthespheroidal
problemat kb = 1.0usingtheISM. (a) Far-fielderror.(b) Velocityreconstruction
errornorm.

backscattered form function error e were also calculated for
the spheroidalproblem.The valuesof a and e werecalculat-
edasa functionofd/b at kb = 1forboththepointsuperposi-
tion and integratedsuperpositionmethods.The resultsare
givenin Figs.7 and 8. For both methodsthe variationof a is
similar, revealinga minimum for a particularretractionra-
tio, beforethe numericalerror dueto smalld becamesignifi-
cant. The value of d/b where this occurs decreases with in-
creasingn. The errorsfor the PSM showthere is a greater
rangeof retractiondistancesover which there is low error
reflectingthe greatersymmetryof the corresponding super-
positionmatrices.

1165 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August 1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews: Wave superpositionmethod 1165

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VII. CONCLUSION The results also indicate that in order to make the solu-

A numericalsolutionto acousticproblemshasbeende- tion accuracysolelydependenton the discretizationof the

scribed along with a strategy to overcomeproblems of problem, whileoptimizingthenumericalconditioning of the
uniquenessusinga hybrid formulation.The superposition formulationthen the boundaryand source surfacesneed to
formulation was shown to be valid and the breakdown of the be coincident.

numerical formulation at the eigenvaluesof the interior

sourcesurfacewas demonstrated.The accuracyof the for-
mulationwasmeasuredthroughuseof a velocityreconstruc-
tion error norm.
The numericalresultsof the superpositionmethodap-
pliedto radiationand scatteringproblemsare presentedfor A.J.Burton
andG.F. Miller,"Theapplication
ofintegral
equation
meth-
odsto thenumerical
solution
ofsomeexteriorboundary
valueproblems,"
sphericaland spheroidalsurfaces.The numericalresultsin- Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 323, 201-210 ( 1971).
dicate that with careful choiceof boundaryand sourcesur- 2j.B.MariemandM. A. Hamdi,"A newboundary
finiteelement
method
facenodal pointsthat it is possibleto attain solutionswith for fluid-structure
interactionproblems,"
Int. J. Num. Meth. Eng.24,
1251-1267 (1987).
high accuracyto both classes of problems.The resultsdem-
3H. A. Schenck,
"Improvedintegralformulation
for acoustic
radiation
onstratethat the accuracyof the superpositionmethod, un- problems,"J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 44, 41-58 (1968).
like the surfaceintegralapproaches,dependsto a significant 4I.C.Mathews,
"Numerical
techniques
forthreedimensional
steady-state
degreeon the conditioningof the problemrather than the fluid-structureinteraction,"J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 79, 1317-1325 (1986).
accuracyof the sourcerepresentation. 5G.H. Koopmann,
L. Song,
andJ.B.Fahnline.
"A method
forcomputing
acousticfieldsbasedon the principleof wavesuperposition,"
J. Acoust.
It should be noted that both formulations tested are nu-
Soc. Am. 86, 2433-2438 (1989).
merical approximationsto Fredholmequationsof thefirst 6p.j. T. Filippi,"Layerpotentials
andacoustic
diffraction,"
J.Sound
Vib.
kind and therefore subjectto a inherent instability in the 54, 473-500 (1977).

solutionprocess.As demonstratedin the resultsthe condi- 7D.ColtonandR. Kress,

IntegralEquation
Methods
inScattering
Theory
(Wiley, New York, 1983).
tioningof the formulationwill deteriorateasthe sourcesur- 8A. D. Pierce,Acoustics
(Acoustical
Societyof America,New York,
faceis retractedfrom the boundarysurface.Despitethe de- 1989), 2nd ed., Chap.4, p. 162.
terioration of the condition number, accurate solutions are 9M.C. Junger
andD. Feit,Sound,
Structures,
andtheirInteraction
(MIT,
Cambridge,MA, 1986), 2nded.,Chap. 10,pp. 313-341.
possiblefor a certain rangeof retractiondistance,however,
2oG. Arfken,Mathematical
Methods
for Physicists
(Academic,
NewYork,
once out of this range large errors occur in the calculated 1985), 3rd ed., Chap. 16, pp. 865-924.
nodal surface velocities. G. F. Miller "Fredholmequations
of thefirstkind,"in Numerical
Solu-
The numericalconditioningof the problemcan be opti- tionof Integral Equations,editedby L. M. DelvesandJ. Walsh (Claren-
don,Oxford, 1974), Chap. 13,pp. 175-188.
mized by reducing the sourcesurfaceretraction distance, 2G. H. GolubandC. F. VanLoan,MatrixComputations
(NorthOxford
and therefore,increasingthe diagonaldominanceof the for- Academic,Oxford, 1983), Chap.2, pp. 11-29.
mulation. However, as the surfaceretraction distance is re- 13GoStrang,LinearAlgebra
anditsApplications
(Harcourt-Brace-Jovano-
ducedcloseto the boundary surfacethen the solutionaccu- vich,New York, 1988), 3rd ed.,Chap.7, pp. 361-387.
14R. AoJeans
andI. C. Mathews,
"Comparison
ofthecollocation
andvari-
racy will deteriorate once again due to the inadequate ationalproceduresfor providingnumericalapproximations
to thehyper-
integration of the sourcesingularity. Another factor that singularacousticintegral operator,"SecondWorkshopon Reliability
will increasethe conditioningof the formulation, thus for and Adaptive Methods in ComputationalMechanics,Cracow, Poland
(1991).
specificproblemsgivinga high solutionaccuracy,is the de-
5S.W. Wu,"A fast,robust& accurate
procedure
forradiation
& scattering
greeof symmetryin the resultingequationset.However,as analysesof submergedelasticaxisymmetricbodies,"Ph.D. thesis,De-
notedby Songet al.6thesymmetry
of theformulation
will partmentof Aeronautics,
ImperialCollege,London,1990.
dependon the surfacenodal points,the retractiondistance 6L. Song,G. H. Koopmann,
andJ. B. Fahnline,"Numerical
errorsasso-
and the interpolationof the sourcedistribution. ciatedwiththemethodof superposition
for computing
acoustic
fields,"J.
Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 2625-2633 ( 1991 ).
The numericalexperimentsindicatethat for optimalso- 7R. A. Jeansand I. C. Mathews,"Solutionof fluid-structure
interaction
lution accuracyand problemconditioningthen the source problemsusinga coupledfinite elementand variationalboundaryele-
nodalpointsneedto be placedat a fixeddistancealongthe ment technique,"J. Acoust. Soc.Am. 88, 2459-2466 (1990).
R. D. MillerandE. T. Moyer,Jr.,"A comparison
between
theboundary
normal from the boundarynodalpoints.If the sourcenodal
elementmethodandthe wavesuperposition approachfor theanalysis of
pointsare placedat any otherlocations,thena dramaticloss the scatteredfieldsfrom rigid bodiesandelasticshells,"J. Acoust.Soc.
of solutionaccuracywill occur. Am. 89, 2185-2196 (1991).

1166 J. Aoust.Soc. Am., Vol. 92, No. 2, Pt. 1, August1992 R. Jeans and I. C. Mathews:Wave superpositionmethod 1166

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