Finite element simulation of non-linear acoustic generation in a horn loudspeaker

The loudspeaker is an electro-acoustic device for sound reproduction which requires the distortion as small as possible. The distortion may arise from the magnetic non-linearity of the york, the uneven magnetic field distribution, the mechanical non-linearity at the diaphragm suspension and the acoustic non-linearity due to the high sound pressure and velocity in the duct-radiation system. A horn is sometimes provided in front of the vibrating diaphragm radiator, which plays an important role to increase the efficiency by matching the acoustic impedance between the radiator and the ambient medium. The horn is in many cases folded twice or three times to shorten the length, which further degrades the reproduction quality. The sound intensity and velocity are apt to attain very high in the small cross-sectional area in the throat and in the folded regions, which may cause the distortion due to the non-linear effect of the medium. The present paper is to investigate the frequency characteristics of the loudspeaker numerically evaluating the generation of the harmonics and sub-harmonics. An axisymmetric folded horn is considered for which the wave equation with the non-linear term retained is solved by the finite element method. The solution is made in time domain in which the sound pressure calculated at the opening end of the horn is Fourier-transformed to the frequency domain to evaluate the distortion, while the wave marching in the horn is visualized.