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TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPORT
Robert M. Koch
Postal:
Naval Undersea Warfare Center Code 00T1, Building. 1346/4 Newport, Rhode Island 02841-1708 USA
Email:
robert.m.koch@navy.mil
Christina J. Naify
Postal:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4600 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, California 91109 USA
Email:
Christina.J.Naify@jpl.nasa.gov
Structural Acoustics and Vibration
The structural acoustics and vibration field partners a technically diverse research community with a surprisingly broad spectrum of technical applications.
Members of the Structural Acoustics and Vibration Technical Committee (TCSA) share a common interest in the scientific examination of both (1) linear and non- linear mechanical vibrations, shock, or structure-borne wave propagation within solid media and (2) the interaction of these structural dynamic systems with ad- jacent acoustic environments. Some of the principal TCSA technical focus areas include the study of the response, damping, isolation, and active/passive control of mechanical systems subjected to dynamic excitations; the modal or resonant, transient dynamic, or shock response of these systems; and the coupled structural acoustic behavior of vibratory mechanical systems that either excite or are excited by acoustic radiation in a surrounding acoustic fluid. Structural acoustics (also termed vibroacoustics) can thus be fundamentally defined as a multidisciplinary coupled field of physics referring usually to the characterization of either (1) the sound power emitted by a vibrating structure subjected to external dynamic exci- tation or (2) the vibrational response of structures excited by incident sound fields or other fluid excitation. TCSA members include a wide range of researchers and practitioners from across academia, industry, and government as well as a group of active student members just beginning their study and professional contributions to the exciting structural acoustics and vibration technical area.
Perhaps the majority of those working in the field have academic training in some discipline of structural mechanics to start. That is, it seems that most of these sci- entists and engineers first established their technical training in the solid mechan- ics arena and added an additional or later concentration in acoustics. This is likely due to the broader and more extensive nature of generalized structural mechan- ics versus acoustics disciplines both in the workforce and in university programs worldwide. Other structural acousticians, fewer in number but growing as a per- centage of the structural acoustics and vibration investigator population, obtained degrees focused directly on structural acoustics or more broadly on acoustics, physics, electrical engineering, or materials science as a path to entering the field.
The technical disciplines of structural acoustics and vibration are applied and re- searched every day across an extremely broad spectrum of applications in the aca- demic, governmental, and industrial workforces. Virtually any simple mechani- cal component or complex system subject to structural or acoustic excitation will respond with appreciable mechanical vibration, significant radiation of sound, or both. For example, structural acoustics and vibration applications span all man- ner of manned and unmanned vehicles including aircraft and other aerial launch vehicles, underwater vehicles, and naval surface craft as well as cars, trucks, and trains. Because these vehicles are utilized in the commercial, military, or public sectors, with widely varying structural acoustic requirements and design methods
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