Time-domain analyses of acoustics-structure interactions for piezoelectric transducers

Piezoelectric transducers coupled with a surrounding medium are analyzed in time domain using the coupled finite element and boundary element method. Three-dimensional solid elements are. employed to model the piezoelectric transducer, while the surrounding medium is described by the boundary integral, equation and the boundary of the medium is modeled by two-dimensional spatial elements. Verification studies were conducted to evaluate the accuracy and convergence of the present numerical algorithm and they show that the present numerical solutions agree well with the analytical ones. The influence of the surrounding medium on the acoustic field is studied. The interaction between the structure and surrounding medium affects the structure dynamic performances and acoustic pressure distributions significantly. However, in the present study we show that the radiation directivity is insignificantly influenced by the surrounding medium. (C) 2001 Acaustical Society of America.