Numerical models for sound propagation in long spaces

Abstract

Both reverberation time and steady-state sound field are the key elements for assessing the acoustic condition in an enclosed space. They affect the noise propagation, speech intelligibility, clarity index, and definition. Since the sound field in a long space is non diffuse, classical room acoustics theory does not apply in this situation. The ray tracing technique and the image source methods are two common models to fathom both reverberation time and steady-state sound field in long enclosures nowadays. Although both models can give an accurate estimate of reverberation times and steady-state sound field directly or indirectly, they often involve time-consuming calculations. In order to simplify the acoustic consideration, a theoretical formulation has been developed for predicting both steady-state sound fields and reverberation times in street canyons. The prediction model is further developed to predict the steady-state sound field in a long enclosure. Apart from the straight long enclosure, there are other variations such as a cross junction, a long enclosure with a T-intersection, an U-turn long enclosure. In the present study, an theoretical and experimental investigations were conducted to develop formulae for predicting reverberation times and steady-state sound fields in a junction of a street canyon and in a long enclosure with T-intersection. The theoretical models are validated by comparing the numerical predictions with published experimental results. The theoretical results are also compared with precise indoor measurements and large-scale outdoor experimental results. In all of previous acoustical studies related to long enclosure, most of the studies are focused on the monopole sound source. Besides non-directional noise source, many noise sources in long enclosure are dipole like, such as train noise and fan noise. In order to study the characteristics of directional noise sources, a review of available dipole source was conducted. A dipole was constructed which was subsequent used for experimental studies. In additional, a theoretical model was developed for predicting dipole sound fields. The theoretical model can be used to study the effect of a dipole source on the speech intelligibility in long enclosures.