Numerics

Physical and computational Acoustics

The numerical simulation of sound fields enhances the understanding of sound and noise propagation and supports for example the development of robust and efficient noise reduction methods. This is one of the reasons why we work on the development and application of computational methods to describe physical interactions between sounds and objects. Our research includes models of the dynamics of structures, sound fields, and vibrations with applications in environmental noise control, automotive audio, auditory perception, and speech production. Our research includes

• the development and application of efficient boundary element methods (BEM) for the Helmholtz equation to simulate the sound propagation of in 2D, 2.5D and 3D,
• the development of efficient methods for modeling systems with hysteretic behavior,
• modeling and (psychoacoustically) evaluating sound mitigation methods,
• the development of models and methods to simulate the human vocal tract.

Computers grow more powerful every year, however, the needs and the requirements of real life applications (e.g. the need for more detailed models, simulation of bigger objects with complex geometry, real-time applications, ...) grow even faster. Thus it is necessary to constantly develop new and robust methods and to introduce new ideas and concepts into the field of numerical and applied mathematics. By working in close cooperations with all other groups of the institute, the group is able to combine new mathematical concepts and developments (e.g. advances in Frame and wavelet theory) with their immediate application for real life problems (e.g. calculation of head related transfer functions for 3D virtual audio, evaluation of noise reduction measurements, ...).