Statistical energy analysis: from the understanding of its assumptions to its practical use

This paper recalls SEA assumptions distinguishing the modal and the wave approach. The goal is to study the possible equivalence between the hypotheses and their influence on the results quality. Simple examples are taken (coupled oscillators, coupled plates) to illustrate the observations. Some guidelines are extracted and they are applied on a plate network. The modal energy equipartition assumption is shown to be equivalent to the rain-on-the-roof assumption. Moreover, the latter implies the diffuse field assumptions. The importance of the weak coupling assumption is also broached. It is observed that indirect coupling loss factors come up for strong coupling regimes making the coupling power proportionality relationship unusable.