A time-space decomposition method for calculating the nearfield pressure generated by a pulsed circular piston.

A time-space decomposition approach is derived for numerical calculations of the transient nearfield pressure generated by a circular piston. Time-space decomposition analytically separates the temporal and spatial components of a rapidly converging single integral expression, thereby converting transient nearfield pressure calculations into the superposition of a small number of fast-converging spatial integrals that are weighted by time-dependent factors. Results indicate that, for the same peak error value, time-space decomposition is at least one or two orders of magnitude faster than the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral, the Schoch integral, the Field II program, and the DREAM program. Time-space decomposition is also faster than methods that directly calculate the impulse response by at least a factor of 3 for a 10% peak error and by a factor of 17 for a 1% peak error. The results show that, for a specified maximum error value, time-space decomposition is significantly faster than the impulse response and other analytical integrals evaluated for computations of transient nearfield pressures generated by circular pistons.