Experiment-based optical full-field receptances in the approximation of sound radiation from a vibrating plate

The exploitation of experiment-based optical full-field technologies in a broad frequency band is here proposed for the sound radiation numerical simulation of a vibrating plate, instead of linear structural finite-element or analytical models—overly simplified on the boundary conditions, frictions, mistunings, and non-linearities—commonly used in limited investigations about a single effective eigenmode of the structure. Spatially detailed operative deflection shapes coming from real testing, indeed, can be a viable dataset for the best achievable representation in the spatial and frequency domains of the real behaviour of manufactured and mounted components around their working dynamic load levels. The Rayleigh’s integral formulation is here adopted for the numerical approximation of the sound radiation field from a lightweight rectangular plate retaining a complex and tightly populated structural dynamics, with effective constraints and damping characteristics. The Rayleigh’s approach is here reformulated to take advantage of the full-field receptances, to obtain maps of acoustic pressure frequency response functions, or of acoustic pressure, once the structural excitation signature is defined. Examples are given in the space and frequency domains, with special attention on the contribution of the experiment-based full-field receptance maps to the accuracy of the radiated acoustic fields.