Forced acoustical response of an open cavity coupled with a semi-infinite space

This paper presents a study of the forced acoustical response of an open cavity from the perspective of modal expansion. Based on the coupled mode theory, it is shown that the sound pressure distribution of an open cavity excited by a point source placed within the cavity can be expanded by a set of frequency-dependent eigenmodes, which are derived from the coupling between the cavity and a semi-infinite space. The calculation of the acoustical responses for baffled and unbaffled open cavities indicates that the proposed modal expansion converges with only a few frequency-dependent eigenmodes in the frequency range of interest. The results of this study eliminate the ambiguity involving the selection of appropriate basis functions, in modal expansion for the forced response problem in open cavities.