An approximate Green's function for a locally excited fluid-loaded thin elastic plate.

In the classic treatment of the line-driven, fluid-loaded, thin elastic plate, a branch cut integral typically needs to be evaluated. This branch cut arises due to a square root operator in the spectral form of the acoustic impedance. In a previous paper [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 3018 (2001)], DiPerna and Feit developed a methodology, complex layer analysis (CLA), to approximate this impedance. The resulting approximation was in the form of a rational function, although this was not explicitly stated. In this paper, a rational function approximation (RFA) to the acoustic impedance is derived. The advantage of the RFA as compared to the CLA approach is that a smaller number of terms are required. The accuracy of the RFA is examined both in the Fourier transform domain and the spatial domain. The RFA is then used to obtain a differential relationship between the pressure and velocity on the surface of the plate. Finally, using the RFA in conjunction with the equation of motion of the plate, an approximate e...