On the interaction of a vibrating plate with an acoustic medium

The interaction of a vibrating plate with an adjacent acoustic medium is important in problems involving the radiation of sound from panels, in problems involving the transmission of sound through walls of buildings, aircraft, or launch vehicles; and in problems involving the estimation of damping and the stress amplitude of vibration for panel-fatigue predictions. There appear to have been no systematic studies of the effects on the plate of fluid coupling for an arbitrary fluid-mass/plate-mass loading ratio. An attempt is made to determine this effect for a wide range of fluid-plate mass ratios without resorting to the usual simplifications of light or heavy fluid loading. Emphasis is with the plate motion rather than the radiation of sound.