Richard E. Morrow
C+AES, Inc., 1223 Peoples Ave., Troy, NY 12180
Understanding the effects of energy coupled from one transducer to an adjacent transducer in an array environment presents a challenging problem for the numerical analyst. Methods which minimize the number of equations to solve must be weighed against numerical accuracy and ease of model generation. Approaches based on finite elements, including ``brute force'' using planes of symmetry, the concept of marching frames, finite-element/boundary-element methods, and separation of the structural and acoustic solution domains for both linear and volumetric arrays are presented and evaluated. This evaluation will include a discussion on the adaptability of each method to parallel processing, especially using PVM software. Results for two array configurations of six MOD30 Class IV flextensional transducers will be presented for discussion.