10.

Radiation Impedance of a Circular

Piston
dS

a
dS'

In the last section we derived the pressure output of a simple source on a baffle.
In this section we will model a more complicated geometry: a vibrating circular
piston. A circular piston is an excellent model of a woofer radiating at low
frequencies; as such it will prove useful for modeling a loudspeaker in an
enclosure. Assume the circular piston has radius a and all points on the surface
are vibrating in phase. Let the velocity normal to the surface of the piston be U0.
The piston is assumed to be mounted in a baffle.

1.0 Circular Piston Model

We will model the circular piston by assuming it is made up of a large number of
simple sources on the surface of the circle. Examining the figure above, we see
that vibration of surface element dS creates a sound pressure at dS. This
pressure can be calculated using the formula for pressure created by a simple
source in a baffle
d p dS ' = j 0 c

d q j( tkr )
e
r

For the surface element the volume velocity is given by dq = U0dS, so that
d p dS ' = j 0 c

U 0 dS j (tkr )
e
r
1

There is a principle, called the principle of acoustic reciprocity, that we will make
use of later in deriving the impedance of the piston. Simply put, this principle
states that the sound pressure at a point p2 created by vibration at p1 is equal to
the sound pressure at point p1 created by vibration at p2 if the two sources have
equivalent volume velocity. Thus, we can rewrite the equation above as
d p dS= j 0 c

U 0 dS ' j (t kr )
e
r

The total pressure on dS is calculated by integrating the pressure over the entire
surface of the piston
pdS ' =

j 0 c U 0 1 j ( tkr )
dS
r e

This integral is, in general, very difficult to solve. Luckily, there is a way of using
acoustic reciprocity to find the impedance of the entire piston, even though we do
not know the surface pressure at every point. The pressure at dS creates a force
on the piston given by
df =p d S' =

j 0 c U 0 dS ' 1 j (t kr )
dS
r e

We can find the total force on the piston by integrating the pressure over the
surface area
f=

j 0 c U 0
1 j (tkr )
e
dS dS '

In performing this integration we will make use of acoustic reciprocity by noting

that the pressure at dS caused by vibration at dS is equal to the pressure at dS
caused by vibration at dS. Thus, we can calculate the interelement pressure force
contribution once, and multiply the final result by two.
Examining the figure above we can derive expressions for dS and dS.
dS=( r d ) dr
'

d S =( R d ) dR

dr

d
dS

r os
2Rc

dR

R
R

d
dS'

In order to add the contributions between elements only once, we will integrate
dS over the circle with radius R, the radial distance to dS. As seen in the figure
below, the maximum distance within this circle is 2Rcos. Thus, we integrate r
between 0 and 2Rcos, then integrate between /2 and /2. In doing this we
cover the entire area of the circle with radius R, but ignore the area outside this
circle. In this manner we are guaranteed to add the contributions between
elements only once.
Next, we add the pressure contributions of dS over the entire surface of the
piston. We do this by integrating with respect to R over the limits 0 to a and with
respect to over the limits 0 to 2. Multiplying the result by two gives us the
final integral:
f=

2 j 0 c U 0 jt a 2 /2 2 R cos 1 jkr
e
e ( r d ) dr ( R d ) dR

r
0 0 /2
0

2 j 0 c U 0 jt a 2 /2 2 R cos jkr
f=
e R e dr d d dR

0 0 /2
0
performing the first integration gives
2 R cos

R e jkr dr =

R(
1e2 jkR cos )
jk

so that the force becomes

3

f=

0 c U 0 jt a 2 /2
e R ( 1e2 jkR cos ) d d dR

0 0 / 2

0 c U 0 jt a 2 /2
f=
e R [ 1cos ( 2 kR cos )+ j sin (2 kR cos ) ] d d dR

0 0 / 2
Here we have an interesting integral. The integrand has the cosine of a cosine
function as well as the sine of a cosine function. Luckily, there are two integral
identities that come to the rescue:
/2

/2

} { }

cos ( x cos )
J ( x)
d= 0
sin ( x cos )
H 0( x)

1
0.8
0.6

H0

0.4
0.2
0
-0.2
-0.4
J0

-0.6
-0.8
-1

10

12

14

16

18

20

where J0(x) is the Bessel function of the first kind of order 0 and H0(x) is the
Struve function of order 0. These functions form part of a set of solutions to a
commonly-encountered differential equation. We will not discuss the equation
here, but we do note that Bessel functions appear frequently in acoustics,
4

vibrations, heat transfer and other problems governed by the wave equation. J0
and H0 are plotted in the figure above.
Using the Bessel and Struve functions we can evaluate the integral over as
/2

R [ 1cos ( 2 kR cos ) + jsin ( 2 kR cos ) ] d= [1J 0 ( 2kR ) + j H 0 (2 kR)]

/2

so that the force equation becomes

a 2

f =0 c U 0 e jt R [ 1J 0 ( 2kR ) + j H 0 (2 kR) ] d dR
0 0

f =2 0 c U 0 e

jt

R [ 1J 0 ( 2 kR ) + j H 0 (2 kR)] dR
0

Here is another interesting integral. For this we must integrate Bessel and
Struve functions with respect to their arguments. Luckily, there is another
identity we can use

1.2

H1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2
J1
-0.4
0

10

12

14

16

18

20

where J1 is the Bessel function of the first kind of order 1 and H1 is the Struve
function of order 1. To use this identity we must rearrange the integral slightly by
defining the variable x.
dR=

x=2 kR

dx
2k

Since we will be integrating over x instead of R, the limit of integration is 2ka

instead of a.
a

2 ka

R [ 1J 0 ( 2 kR ) + j H 0 ( 2 kR ) ] dR= 41k 2 x [ 1J 0 ( x ) + j H 0 ( x ) ] dx
0
0

2
1 ( 2 ka )
2
2 ka ( J 1 ( 2 ka ) + j H 1 ( 2 ka ) )
2
4k

J ( 2 ka )
H ( 2 ka )
S
1 1
+j 1
2
ka
ka

So that the final form of the force equation is

f =0 cS U 0 e jt 1

J 1 ( 2 ka )
H ( 2 ka )
+j 1
ka
ka

The impedance for the piston is defined as

f
f
Z= =
u U 0 e jt
So that the driving point impedance of a circular piston is

Z =0 cS 1

J 1 ( 2 ka )
H ( 2 ka )
+j 1
ka
ka

Let us define
R1 ( x )=1

2 J1 (x )
x

X 1 ( x) =

2 H1( x )
x

then the impedance is

Z =0 cS [ R1 ( 2ka ) + j X 1 (2 ka) ]

1.2

R1
0.8

0.6

0.4
X1
0.2

10

12

14

16

18

20

R1 and X1 are plotted in the figure below.

2.0 Notes on First Order Bessel and Struve Functions

Like trigonometric functions, Bessel and Struve functions cannot be calculated
using simple formulas. Bessel functions are built into most computational
software (e.g. Matlab, MathCAD) but Struve functions are not. To calculate
radiation impedance, we need an algorithm for approximating these functions.
Each function takes an argument, z, that varies over a given range. There is no
formula for approximating the Bessel and Struve functions over the range 0 < z <
; we will need two separate formulas depending upon the value of z.
For z < 2
J 0 ( z ) =1

z2
z4
z6
+

+
2
2
2
2
2
2
2 2 4 2 4 6

z 2 z3
3 z5
4 z7
J 1 ( z )=
+

+
2 2 4 2 2 42 6 2 2 42 6 2 82

H0

2
z3
z5
z 2 2 2 2 2

1 3 1 3 5

2 z2
z4
z6

H1 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 3 1 3 5 1 3 5 7

(2.1)

For z > 2
J0

cos z
z
4

J1

2
3

cos z

z
4

H0

sin z
z
4 z

H1

2
3 2

sin z

z
4

(2.2)

For our purposes we are interested in finding the low frequency limit to these
approximations, since we are designing the enclosure around the woofer. If we
assume that the frequencies of interest are less than 100 Hz, then k < 1.898 m-1.
For an average woofer diameter (8) this gives a ka product of less than 0.2. For
this value we can use only the first terms in the power series expansions for R1
and X1 to give
ka 2
8ka

j
3
2

Z r 0cS

(2.3)

Since ka is small, the resistive term is negligible and we are left with a purely
reactive impedance. Rearranging this slightly, we have
8a

Z r j 0 S

(2.4)

Since the impedance of a mass is given by

Z m jm
(2.5)
8

The radiation impedance at low frequencies is equivalent to adding a mass of

8a

mr 0 S

(2.6)

to the cone. Note that this approximation is only valid at low frequencies, in the
region where we wish to tune our enclosures. You should not use this
approximation to calculate the frequency response of your loudspeaker over a
wide frequency range.