Examples in acoustics

Brje Nilsson

Examples in acoustics
1. For longitudinal waves we have the following approximate sound speeds:

Air c = 340 m/s

Water c = 1500 m/s
Steel c = 5000 m/s

Determine the wavelengths in the three media for longitudinal vibrations with the
frequencies 100, 1 000 and 10 000 Hz.

2. A material confined to fixed dimensions is subjected to longitudinal vibrations. The

frequency is increased until resonance occurs so that it is certain that the wavelength
is 0,5 m. The following results were found for the frequency f:

Material A f = 636 Hz
Material B f = 3283 Hz
Material C f = 9884 Hz

a) Determine the longitudinal sound speed for the materials A, B and C.

b) The materials are air, water and steel. Which material is A, B and C, respectively?

c) One of the materials has a much higher value of the sound speed than found in
hand books. What could be the reason for this?

3. The sound pressure level is measured separately for a number of sound sources. What
is the expected sound pressure level for all sound sources together if they can be
assumed to be uncorrelated?

a) 60 dB, 50 dB
b) 70 dB, 65 dB
c) 80 dB, 83 dB
d) 90 dB, 90 dB
e) 80 dB, 80 dB, 83 dB

4. At a guarantee test of a machine interfering background noise was present that was
not possible to reduce. Therefore, the measurement was carried out with and without
the machine under testing with the following results for the sound pressure level:

Machine and background noise: 42 dB

Only background noise: 39 dB

The sound guarantee states that the sound pressure level from the machine may not
exceed 40 dB, measurement inaccuracy included. Is the sound guarantee met?
Motivate your answer with suitable calculations.

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 Examples in acoustics
Brje Nilsson

5. There are 10 machines at an industrial plant giving each a sound pressure level of 80
dB. What sound pressure level is expected with the following number of running
machines if they can be assumed to be uncorrelated?

a) two
b) four
c) eight
d) ten.

6. At an industrial plant, there are 6 ventilation fans each one giving the same
contribution to the sound pressure level. When all fans are running the sound pressure
level is 44 dB. How many fans can be running at maximum if the highest allowed
sound pressure level is 40 dB?

7. At a sound measurement on an induction motor, the following octave band sound

pressure levels were determined:

f [Hz] 63 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Lp [dB] 69 71 73 77 79 78 75 72

Determine the total sound pressure level assuming that the contribution from the
octave bands below 63 Hz and above 8000 Hz can be ignored.

8. A fan produces the following sound power levels in octave bands:

f [Hz] 63 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Lw [dB] 69 72 75 76 78 73 68 63

Determine

a) the total sound power level

b) the time mean value of the total sound power.

9. At the distance of 1m from a fan casing, the following octave sound pressure levels
have been measured:

f [Hz] 63 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Lp [dB] 64 68 71 72 74 69 64 59

Determine

a) the total sound pressur

b) the Root Mean Square value (RMS-value) of the total sound pressure.

10. To determine the sound power level from an electric motor, it was placed on a large
flat surface of concrete. The sound pressure level was measured to 73 dB on the
surface of a half sphere with radius 3 m centred just below the motor. There are no
objects in the neighbourhood that may disturb the measurements by reflections.
Determine the sound power level of the motor.

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 Examples in acoustics
Brje Nilsson

11. The same as problem 10 but the sound pressure level was measured at 5 evenly
distributed points on the surface of the sphere.

Measuring point No. 1 2 3 4 5

Lp [dB] 74 73 74 72 71

Determine the sound power level of the motor.

12. At a sound measurement close to a fan, the following sound pressure levels in octave
bands were found:

f [Hz] 63 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Lp [dB] 97 92 94 97 96 92 87 85

Determine
a) the total sound pressure level
b) the sound level, i.e., the total sound pressure level in dBA

13. In a housing area, the following sound pressure levels in octave bands were
determined with the purpose of checking a given guarantee:

f [Hz] 63 125 250 500 1k 2k 4k 8k

Lp [dB] 51 46 45 40 40 35 31 30

The guarantee states that the sound level may not exceed 40 dBA.

a) Show that the guarantee is not met.

b) Which octave band levels require attenuation?
c) Propose suitable attenuation of the octave band levels in b) in order to meet the
sound guarantee.

14. The equivalent sound level will be determined at a company with the use of a simple
sound level meter. Samples are taken for six different activities assumed to have equal
probability during a day. The result is:

Activity, No 1 2 3 4 5 6
LpA [dBA] 87 86 88 70 69 72

Estimate the equivalent sound level for a typical working day.

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 Answers to examples in acoustics
Brje Nilsson

Answers to examples in acoustics

Problems with solutions (in Swedish) are marked with an *

*1.
f [Hz] 100 1000 10000
, air [m] 340 3.4 0.34 0.034
, water [m] 1500 15 1.5 0.15
, steel [m] 5000 50 5 0.5

2. Material A f = 636 Hz, c= 318 m/s

Material B f = 3283 Hz, c= 1642 m/s
Material C f = 9884 Hz, c= 4942 m/s

3. a) 60,4 dB
b) 71 dB
c) 85 dB
d) 93 dB
e) 86 dB

4. 42 dB (-) 42 dB=39 dB

*5. a) 83 dB
b) 86 dB
c) 89 dB
d) 90 dB

6. 2 fans

7. 84 dB

*8. a) 83 dB
b) 1.9* 10 4.W

9. a) 79 dB
b) 1.7* 10 1.Pa

10. 91 dB

11. 90 dB

*12. a) 103 dB
b) 100 dBA

13. a) -
b) The octave bands with centre frequencies 250 Hz, 500 Hz and 1000 Hz
c) Attenuation with 5 dB, 6 dB and 9 dB, respectively.

14. The equivalent sound level for a working day is estimated to 84.2 dBA.