Sound attenuation by multiple barriers

A method (tentatively called ‘the method of equivalent sound source’) of predicting the sound attenuation achieved by multiple barriers with knife edges and/or right-angled wedges is proposed. This paper shows that the sound pressure level in the shadow region behind the multiple barriers can be obtained by successively setting imaginary sound sources for respective edges and/or wedges. The locations of the imaginary sound sources are determined by means of the traditional solution for sound attenuation by a single edge. The calculated results for several kinds of small-scale model, obtained by ‘the method of equivalent sound source’, are compared with experimental results.