On the selection of loads in the multiload method for measuring the acoustic source parameters of duct systems

The in-duct source can be characterized by two acoustical parameters such as the source strength and the source impedance, which permit the prediction of radiated sound pressure or insertion loss of the whole duct system. One-port acoustic characteristics of an in-duct source can be measured by the multiload method using an overdetermined set of open pipes or side-branch pipes with different lengths as applied loads. The input data, viz. load pressure and load impedance, are usually contaminated by measurement error in the actual measurements, which result in errors in the calculated source parameters. In this paper, the effects of the errors in the input data on the results have been studied numerically, varying the number of loads and their impedances in order to determine what combination of the loads will yield the best result. It is noted that, frequently, only a set of open pipes is used when applying the multiload method to the internal combustion engine sources. A set of pipe lengths, which cause the calculated results to be least sensitive to the input data error, can be found when using open pipe loads. The present work is intended to produce guidelines for preparing an appropriate load set in order to obtain accurate source properties of fluid machines.