Efficient sound barrier calculations with the BEM

The Boundary Element Method has been used for calculating the effect of introducing sound barriers for some decades. The method has also been used for optimizing the shape of the barrier and in some cases the effects of introducing sound absorption. However, numerical calculations are still quite time consuming and inconvenient to use, which is limiting their use for many practical problems.

Moreover, measurements are mostly taken in one-third or full octave bands opposed to the numerical computations at specific frequencies, which then has to be conducted using a fine density in frequencies. This paper addresses some of the challenges and possible solutions for developing BEM into a more efficient tool for sound barrier calculations.