Modeling of multiply connected sound spaces by the surface coupling approach

The surface coupling approach is employed to predict the sound field in multiply connected spaces (rooms) with internal noise sources. The coupling is achieved by developing sound pressure and particle velocity at the interfaces between rooms in simple interface functions. Plane surface harmonics can be employed as interface functions where rectangular interfaces are concerned. Using the blocked sound pressure and impedance across the interface surfaces as acoustical descriptors, each room can be identified separately. The acoustical continuity conditions can then be applied to obtain the resulting sound field. Using this approach, the prediction of the sound field created by point sources in three connected parallelepipedic rooms was successfully carried out. The parametric study shows that the normalized harmonics wavenumber equal to 2 times the normalized sound wavenumber enables acceptable sound prediction. Further application was done by predicting sound energy flow of three monopole sources in a rectangular space coupled with a semi-infinite field.