Assessment of Numerical Models and Methods for Noise Radiation Prediction

This paper considers two questions: how does one know when a boundary element mesh is reliable, and what are the advantages and potential pitfalls of various methods for sound radiation prediction. To answer the first question, a mesh checking method is used. With this method velocity boundary conditions are calculated on the nodes of the mesh using a point source or sources placed inside the mesh. A boundary element program is then used to calculate the sound power due to these boundary conditions. The result is compared to the known sound power of the point source or sources. This method has been used to determine the maximum frequency of a mesh, how many CHIEF points to use, etc. The second question is answered by comparing the results of several numerical methods to experimental results for a running diesel engine. The methods examined include the direct and indirect boundary element methods and the Rayleigh integral.