Date July 18, 2004 Memo Number STI:05/01B

Subject Sheldon's ANSYS Tips and Tricks:

Tricks : Acoustic Elements and
an d Boundary Conditions
Keywords Acoustics, FLUID30, FLUID80

1. Introduction:
For many years, ANSYS has 2D and 3D acoustic elements, including those used to model an
“infinite” boundary. These elements can be used in modal, harmonic, and transient analyses, and
fluid-structural interaction can also be accounted for in these simulations.
This memo hopes to review the following topics related to harmonic acoustic analyses: basic
comparison of structural and acoustic elements, modeling complex impedance boundary conditions,
and defining complex pressure loading. A set of input files, which analyze the case of a simple
radiating sphere, is included with this memo.

2. Background on Equations:
A short discussion of the linear acoustic equations will be useful before commencing on the
particulars. For harmonic analyses, the linear wave equation is used:
1 ∂2 p
∇2 p =
c 2 ∂t 2
jωt
The acoustic pressure p is assumed to be harmonic, so p = po e is inserted in the above equation:
ω2
∇ 2 po = − po
c2
This is the familiar Helmholtz equation, with ω=excitation frequency, c=speed of sound in fluid, and
po=pressure magnitude. (Please note that in some literature, the acoustic wave is defined to be
− jωt
traveling in the opposite direction p = po e , so some equations (such as those for specific
acoustic impedance) may have opposite signs.)

Since the finite element method is used, the above equation is converted to matrix form:
[M ]{&p&}+ [K ]{p} = {0}
Wave absorption may also be present in the form of an “infinite boundary” FLUID129/130
1
element or a surface admittance coefficient defined by material property MU and surface flag IMPD,
and these are incorporated in a damping matrix [C].
Fluid-structural interaction (FSI) may also be considered, in which case displacement DOF from
the structural elements (and acoustic elements at the FSI boundary) complement the equations.
However, the FSI coupling is achieved through off-diagonal mass and stiffness terms, so the
equations are unsymmetric for FSI, resulting in the following (including absorption and damping):
M u 0   u&& C u 0   u&   K u K fs   u   F u 
 fs   +    +    =  
M M p   &p&  0 C p   p&   0 K p  p  0 

For harmonic analyses, since both pressure and displacements are harmonically varying, this fact
can be taken advantage of if users want to manipulate the equations. Namely, the following
relationships will hold:

u& = juoωe jωt p& = jpoωe jωt [K A ] = [C A ]

jω
u&& = −uoω 2 e jωt &p& = − poω 2e jωt
[M B ] = jω [C B ]

1
These elements satisfy the Sommerfield radiation condition. This means that it works best for radially symmetric
outgoing waves, so that is why FLUID129/130 require a circular/spherical definition.
3. Acoustic Elements:
ANSYS has specific acoustic elements (FLUID29/30) that should be used whenever possible in
acoustic analyses. These elements accept fluid density (MP,DENS) and speed of sound in the fluid
(MP,SONC) as material input. Although distributed surface or body loads are not possible, pressure
DOF and “flow” nodal loading are available.
Pressure is applied at the nodes but with the D family of commands (instead of SF commands for
structural pressure), as it is a DOF constraint. The “flow” loading (or reaction force) is applied with
the FLOW label (applied via F or listed with PRRSOL, etc.) and can be thought of as “fluid mass
acceleration,” which is the amount of fluid pumped in/out of the system. This flow load has units of
2
mass/time and can be calculated from surface area*density*particle acceleration or,
similarly, via density*volumetric acceleration.
If the unsymmetric FSI formulation is used, the acoustic element has displacement DOF. This
displacement DOF actually become ‘active’ if an FSI flag (SF,,FSI) is applied on the appropriate face
of the acoustic element. As noted in Section 2 above, for harmonic analyses, a simple relationship
between displacement and velocity exists, so the user can then apply velocity loading by including a
displacement value equal to -j*velocity/omega. This means, though, that for a constant velocity
loading in a frequency range, the user must use APDL and a *DO loop to manually change the
displacement value, as it is inversely related to the excitation frequency. Also, as noted in the
relationship, a real value of velocity means that an imaginary value of –velocity/omega is applied to
the desired nodes.
It is also interesting to make an acoustic analogy with structural elements, as it provides more
insight into alternative modeling capabilities.

FLUID79/80 are “contained fluid” elements, which have structural rather than pressure DOF.
These elements are originally designed for sloshing problems, but they can be used to model
acoustic systems as well. The elastic modulus (MP,EX) is actually the bulk modulus of the fluid
κ = ρ oc 2 . This element can also accept MP,VISC (viscosity) or MP,DAMP (stiffness multiplier) to
directly create [C] damping matrices for loss effects within the fluid. Thermal expansion effects are
also possible.
FLUID79/80 have displacement DOF, so pressure loading must be applied as a surface load
rather than displacement constraint (discussed later in Section 5). However, velocity loading is
applied in a similar manner to acoustic elements with FSI, as described above.
The difficulty with using FLUID79/80 elements is that they introduce more DOF to the matrix
equation, and there are spurious modes that may be excited since these elements have negligible
shear stiffness and one-point integration. Moreover, these elements perform best in rectangular
shape, and when connecting to a structural interface, ideally, only the normal direction should be
coupled. However, dealing with FSI problems does not require an unsymmetric solution because
these are purely structural elements, and no-separation contact elements can resolve any modeling
difficulties encountered when connecting to regular structural elements.

A similar feat can be accomplished with regular structural continuum elements, such as
PLANE182 or SOLID185. If a very high Poisson’s ratio is used (nearly- or fully-incompressible), the
element can act like a fluid element with the elastic modulus input as the actual Young’s modulus
Y = 3κ (1 − 2ν ) = 3 ρ o c 2 (1 − 2ν ) . In these cases, a high Poisson’s ratio, such as 0.49999, would
require use of the B-Bar or Enhanced Strain method for lower-order 18x elements to alleviate
volumetric locking. These elements also accept thermal expansion and damping as material inputs.
The loading is similar to the case with FLUID79/80, although one does not need to worry about
spurious modes being excited if URI formulation is not used. Also, more importantly, higher-order
elements are available, and unsymmetric solutions are not required.
The main drawback to using such an element is that, besides the introduction of more DOF
compared to acoustic elements, post-processing results, such as pressures or velocities, are not
straightforward. One needs to calculate the hydrostatic pressure or velocity manually, best done
with an APDL macro to automate the procedure. Also, this element behavior can be sensitive to the
value given to the Poisson’s ratio.

Although the above shows some different ways of representing acoustic fluid problems, the user
is strongly recommended to use regular acoustic elements FLUID29/30 whenever possible.
4. Complex Impedance Boundary Condition:
In ANSYS, the boundary admittance coefficient, defined in ANSYS as β = ρo c Re z , can be
specified at an element face, where z is the specific acoustic impedance of the material at the
boundary. The value of β is defined as MP,MU, and a surface activation flag IMPD is applied at the
element faces where the absorption is to take place.
While this type of boundary admittance definition is straightforward, the ability to specify
complex impedance (i.e., both resistance and reactance) is not possible with MP,MU. In order to
accomplish this, the use of surface effect elements SURF153/154 is required.

SURF153/154 are not meant to model physical structures but are generally used for loading
purposes only. These elements are defined like contact elements on the ‘surface’ of the underlying
2
planar/solid elements. The unique feature of these elements is that terms to the [M], [C], or [K]
matrices can be added. This allows users to specify specific acoustic impedance that is complex on
element faces where SURF153/154 are created.
As noted in Section 2, a relationship exists between [C] and [K] or [M] in harmonic analyses.
For complex acoustic impedance, the real term can be directly inserted into [C] whereas the
imaginary term can be defined as [K] or [M], which is equivalent in harmonic analyses to an
imaginary [C] term. For SURF153, the viscosity material property MP,VISC can be used to define the
specific acoustic resistance whereas the real constants for added mass per unit area (ADMSUA) or
elastic foundation stiffness (EFS) may be used to define the specific acoustic reactance.
The resistance must always be positive (i.e., boundary absorbs energy). However, the reactance
can be positive or negative – since ANSYS does not recognize negative stiffness or mass, if the
reactance is positive, an equivalent ADMSUA (real constant 6) should be used; otherwise, EFS (real
constant 4) can be defined instead. These are defined by the following relationships:
VISC = Re z
Im z
ADMSUA = for Im z > 0
ω
EFS = −ω ⋅ Im z for Im z < 0
One may recall from basic acoustic texts that, for a plane wave case at normal incidence with
Im|z|=0, Re|z|=1 corresponds to perfect absorption, Re|z|=0 is a pressure-release surface, and
Re|z|=∞ mimics a rigid wall. The user needs to keep in mind, though, that this behavior does not
hold true for any configuration, as a common misconception is the ability to use Re|z|=1 for any
geometry/source, expecting perfect absorption at the boundaries (if the boundary is far enough
away from the source, the incident waves may appear like a plane wave, in which case MP,MU,,1
will work as expected).

Lastly, there are some other points to keep in mind. Please note that the user needs to evaluate
the specific acoustic impedance values by hand – the value of “z” shown above is specific acoustic
impedance (i.e., per unit area); if the user has values of boundary admittance coefficients (β), the
values must be inverted and multiplied by ρ o c of the fluid. Also, the “angle of incidence” is not
evaluated/considered in the equations solved (as the incident and reflected waves are not solved
separately), so the above usage assumes impedance values independent of angle. The use of APDL
should be make definition of ADMSUA or EFS easier, as these values have a frequency-dependent
term. Also, the FSI flag should be enabled, resulting in unsymmetric matrices.

The use of SURF153/154 allows users to model complex specific acoustic impedance at any
boundary. The user, however, should run smaller models with known solutions first to become
acquainted with this slightly unconventional modeling approach.

2
For information on surface effect elements, please refer to the following memos available on ansys.net:
• STI35:000227A, “Structural Surface Effect Elements”
• STI38:000409A, “Thermal Surface Effect Elements”
• STI:04/05, “Pressure Load Macro”
5. Complex Pressure Boundary C Condition:
ondition:
For acoustic elements FLUID29/30, the application of a known, complex pressure value is
simple with the D family of commands. If structural elements are used in a manner described in
Section 3, this presents problems, as pressure is a surface load, and planar/solid elements can only
accept real values for applied pressure.

Starting from ANSYS 7.1, SURF153/154 allow for complex pressure input in harmonic analyses
with the full method. The use of SURF153/154 can be used to apply complex pressure on structural
elements, if the user wanted to use structural elements to ‘mimic’ acoustic fluid behavior. However,
as noted above, this should only be done by advanced users who have validated their results, as there
are some pitfalls the user may not be aware of with such an unorthodox approach.

6. Sample Input Files:

Eleven input files of a simple radiating sphere (2D axisymmetric) are included. These input files
demonstrate the use of the methods described in this memo. A plot of ANSYS-calculated values vs.
theory is displayed after the solution is completed. A table summarizing the input files is shown
below:
Table 1
Input File Name Fluid Region Infinite Region Excitation # DOF Unsym Comments
sphere1.inp FLUID29 FLUID129 (D,,UX) 3797 yes
sphere2.inp FLUID29 (MP,MU) (D,,UX) 3789 yes
sphere3.inp FLUID29 SURF153 (D,,UX) 3798 yes
sphere4.inp FLUID79 SURF153 (D,,UX) 6720 no
sphere5.inp FLUID29 FLUID129 (D,,PRES) 3788 no
sphere6.inp FLUID29 FLUID129 (SF,,PRES) 3806 yes
sphere7.inp FLUID29 FLUID129 (D,,UX) 3797 yes Use of MPC Contact
sphere8.inp FLUID79 SURF153 (D,,UX) 6736 no Use of Penalty Contact
sphere9.inp PLANE182 SURF153 (D,,UX) 6720 no
spherea.inp FLUID79 SURF153 (SF,,PRES) 6729 no
sphereb.inp PLANE182 SURF153 (SF,,PRES) 6729 no

In this example, the specific acoustic impedance for perfect absorption of spherical waves is
defined by the following, well-known equation (where k is the wave number and r is the radial
position):
 (kr )2 kr 
z = ρ oc +j 
2 
 1 + (kr )2
1 + (kr ) 
For large values of kr, the resistance term dominates. With kr=1, both terms are equal to ρoc/2, and
with smaller values of kr, the reactance term dominates. By changing the value of “FREQUENC” in the
“sphere.parm” input file, the user can study the effects of increased acoustic reactance (e.g., use
values of “1.6e4,” “1.6e2,” and “1.6” for the three cases of kr).
By running these input files with different values of FREQUENC (kr), the user will note that
“sphere2.inp” will only correctly model the case with high kr, as expected. The other methods will
calculate the acoustic response correctly, although it is worthwhile to note that FLUID79 may have
erratic results, most likely due to excitation of spurious modes. This demonstrates the possible use
of SURF153/154 to model complex specific acoustic impedance at a boundary.
7. Conclusion:
This memo hoped to cover some aspects of acoustic analyses, namely the use of structural
analogy for modeling fluidic behavior. This allows users to use structural continuum elements to
mimic acoustic fluid elements or, more importantly, to use surface effect elements for representation
of complex impedance or complex pressure.
As with any feature new to the reader, the user is encouraged to run simpler models first to get a
an understanding of the modeling methods involved.

__________________________
Sheldon Imaoka
ANSYS, Inc.

This document is not being provided in my capacity as an ANSYS employee. I am solely

responsible for the content.
 Sheldon’s ANSYS.NET Tips and Tricks
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