Numerical Simulations of the Modified Schroeder Diffuser Structure

Antti J&vinen”, Kaarina Melkas+, Lauri Savioja*

“hboratory of Acoustics, Helsinki University of Technology, P. O. Box 3000, FIN- O21O5 HUT Finland
tNokia Research Center, P. O. Box 100, FIN-33721 Tampere, Finland

Abstract: In this paper a new modified Schroeder diffuser structure is presented. The new structure m~es it possible to
extend the low-frequency limit of the Schroeder diffuser so that the cut-off frequency is not directly proportional to the depth
of the structure. me modified structure is atso easier to manufacture than the conventiorud Schroeder diffusers. me new
structure is compared to the primitive root &R) and quadratic residue (QR) designs by numericrd simulations. These are made
with finite element @M) and finite difference time domain @TD) methods and the results are compared to each other.

~TRODUCTION

Schroeder diffusers have been widely used in recording studios, concert halls and other critical applications since
their discovery in 1970’s by Schroeder(1). These diffusers consist of narrow wells whose depths relate to each other
by a number theoretical sequence. The two most common diffuser designs are based on PR and QR sequences (1).
The wells are separated from each other by thin dividers. Recently new designs using fractal sequences have been
developed by RPG Diffuser Systems, Inc.
The novel features of the Schroeder diffusers are their near optimal diffusion characteristics. They are also
efficient low-frequency absorbers. The low-frequency abso~tion phenomenon has been modeled by Kuttruff (2).
From the practical point of view Schroeder diffusers are complicated structures which are expensive to
manufacture. In current designs the lower cut-off frequency of a diffuser is directly related to the depth of the
structure, therefore low-frequency diffusers are impractically large.

MOD~IED SCHROEDER D~WSERS

Mechel proposed in his paper (3) that in a case of PR sequence the order of the wells is not critical. He suggested
that good diffusion properties can be utilized by arranging the wells in the order of their depth. This construction is
named modified PR diffuser (PRM) in Fig. 1~. Mechel proposed that the wells can be folded to lower the cut-off
frequency of the diffuser without extending its depth significantly @lg. 1a).
The new proposed structure in Fig. 1b) is constructed of U-shaped wells which are then divided to two separate
wells by a bottom piece, thus resulting a single or two separate diffusers as in Fig. lb). This construction has lower
cut-off frequency compared to the folded PRM of equaf depth. Also there are no non-utilized cavities in the structure
as in traditional designs. The construction is straightforward if the unit well depth d~ of either of the diffusers equals
to the well width. The new design has been used in the reference listening room designed by the author (4).

NUMERICAL S~LA~ONS

The motivation of this paper is the comparison of different diffuser sequences and structures and to find out what
is the effect of the structural modifications to the diffusion performance. Previously diffusers have been modeled
using transmission line analogies (see e.g. 2) and boundary element method (BEM) (6).
The applied FEM simulation method was comercial Ansys-program. FEM modeling was used because the ratio
of the surface area to the volume of the structure is favorable compared to the BEM. In FEM analysis, models were
completely rigid without abso~tion. The dividers were infinitely thin, Diffuser was opening into an infinite half-
space of air having a symmetry plane surrounding the structure. The mesh density met the six-element-per-
wavelength criterion.
FDTD simulations were carried out using a waveguide mesh method based software (5). FDTD as a 10w-
complexity time-domain method makes sound field visualization and animation easy even with a standard PC. The
calculations were done with 5.0 mm space discretization.

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 ,., . . . . . . .

M a)

d) e)
FIGURE lDifferent Schroeder diffuser types a) folded PRM “
proposed by Mechel, b) new proposed folded PRM, c) non-foldd b),
d) QR , e) PR, ~ PRM (aspect ratios distorted due to the space limits)

b) c)

All simulations were made using two-dimensiond models with a point source in 1.30 m distance having a
Gaussian spectrum with a 1 Wz center frequency. Responses were recorded on a semicircle from 1.0 meter distance.
The first simulation was made to compare different sequences QR, PR and PRM ~lgs. ld, le and lo. The prime
used for design was 11. The dfl was set to 10.0 cm and the width of the wells was 3.0 cm.
Simulation results are shown in figures 2a) FDTD and 2b) ~M. The difference in the polar responses of the QR
and PR diffusers can be easily seen. PR and PRM results are similar to those that Mechel has presented earlier (3).
In the second step, PRM constructions using prime 7 were compared. The d~s were 6.0 cm and 2.0 cm, and the
well width was 2.0 cm. Resulting structures were 24.0 cm wide, depths were 14.0 cm Fig. lb) and 36.0 cm (Fig.
1c). Simulation results of the new structures are presented in Fig. 2c). The results show that the polar response from
the non-folded construction is somehow smoother. This is probably due to the reflections from the vertical dividers
of the folded construction. This irregularity is small compared to advantages of the size and construction complexity
of the diffuser.

a) b) c)
FIGURE 2 Simulation results a) QR, PR, PRM ~TD), b) QR, PR, PRM @M), c) new proposed folded PRM, PRM

CONCLUSIONS

We have presented a new Schroeder diffuser construction which allows to design more compact diffusers having a
simple construction. Numerical simulations show that the new structure has diffusion characteristics comparable to
the traditional designs. Future work will include coupled structural acoustic simulations, simulations of the low-
frequency absorption characteristics and model verifications by measurements.

REFERENCES

1. Schroeder, M. R. Number Theo~ in Science and Communication, 2& edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 324, 1986.
2. Kuttruff, H. Sound Absorption by Pseudostochastic Diffusers (Schroeder Diffusers), Appl. Acousf., 42, pp. 215-231, (1994).
3. Mechel, F. P. The Wide-angle Diffuser - a Wide-angle Absorber ?, Acustica, 81, pp. 379-401, ( 1995).
4. Jarvinen, A., Savioja L., Moller H., Ikonen V., Ruusuvuori A. Design of a Reference Listening Room - A Case Study, 103ti
AES Convention, Preprint no. 4559, New York, NY, 1997.
5, Savioja, L., Backman, J., J~rvinen, A., and Takrda, T. Waveguide Mesh Method for hw-Frequency Simulation of Room
Acoustics. Proc. l~th Int. Congress on Acoustics (ICA ‘95),Trondheim, Norway, vol. 2., pp. 637-640,1995.
6. Konnert J. H., D’Antonio P., The Disc Project: Theoretical Simulations of the Directional Scattering Properties of
Architwtural Acoustic Surface, Proc, Wallace Clement Sabine Symposium, Cambridge Massachusetts, pp. 137-140, 1994.

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