Mechanical Multiport System: Elastic Wave Propagation in a Small Aluminum Plate

Application ID: 90121


In this tutorial, the vibrational behavior of a small aluminum plate with four waveguide structures is analyzed. This is an example of a structural component located in a device where elastic waves are propagating, like a smart speaker, an electric motor, or a MEMS device. The plate can be thought of as a mechanical multiport system. The model uses the port boundary condition at the inlet/outlet of the waveguide structures. The port conditions consistently capture and treat the different propagating elastic modes like longitudinal, transverse, and torsional waves. The transmission and reflection of the various modes is characterized through the scattering matrix of the system, which is computed automatically. This allows the vibrational behavior of the component to be characterized in great detail, for example, for subsequent use in a system simulation.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: