Diffraction of sound from a dipole source near to a barrier or an impedance discontinuity

Abstract

Pierce’s formulation for the diffraction of spherical waves by a hard wedge has been extended to the case of the sound field due to a dipole source. The same approach is also used to extend a semiempirical model for sound propagation above an impedance discontinuity due to a dipole source. The resulting formulas have been validated by comparing their numerical solutions with that computed by summing the sound fields due to two closely spaced monopole sources of equal magnitude but opposite in phase. These new formulations are then used to develop a simple model for calculating the dipole sound field diffracted by a barrier above an impedance ground. Applications of these models relate to transportation noise prediction, particularly railway noise abatement, for which dipole sources are commonly used. The numerical predictions have been found to compare reasonably well with indoor measurements using piezoceramic transducers as dipole sources.