Edge Boundary Conditions Impact on the Radiation of Multiactuator Panels for Multichannel Audio Reproduction

An empirical study of the impact that the edge boundary conditions have on the radiated wave field for Multiactuator Panels (MAP) is presented. The aim is not the underlying physics on plate theory, but to experiment with practical boundary conditions to form a viable technology for a MAP frame in multichannel audio reproduction systems. Besides classical clamped and free boundary conditions, three types of elastic boundaries have been addressed as viable edge boundary conditions. Two elastic materials have been chosen as representative of flexible and hard types within the commercial range to develop the elastic boundaries. In addition to the on-axis and directivity responses, microphone array measurements have been interpreted in the wavenumber domain, where the source radiation is analyzed in space and time. Results show significant differences on varying the panel boundary conditions and elastic materials under test.