Traveling-wave control of the bending wave in a beam for high quality sound radiation

The bending wave generated by the actuator exciting a panel can be controlled to be in the traveling wave form void the structural resonances, which deteriorates the radiated sound if the panel is used as a speaker. Although such traveling-wave control method (TCM) yields a wider effective frequency range than the modal control method, the requirement of using many actuators is the practical problem yet. If a beam is employed instead of a plate as a panel speaker, the number of actuators can be reduced despite a smaller radiating surface than a plate. This study adopts three actuators for the beam control using TCM. An actuator excites the beam in the middle position, and the two actuators near the two edges are used to suppress the reflected waves from the boundaries. The control result shows that the driving-point mobility of the primary actuator is converted into that of an infinite beam, which means that the boundaries are changed into anechoic ones and the structural resonances are eliminated. Accordingly, the beam radiates a smooth sound spectrum without sharp peaks and troughs related to the resonant responses. Effects of material and dimension in determining the effective frequency range are also explored.