Hello,
I am looking for a program that will allow me to visualize the
propagation (including diffraction, reflection, and interference) of
acoustic waves at different frequencies, in the presence of scattering
objects with variable reflectivities.  Would ideally be able to run
on a PC.
Thank you!

There are several (free download) programs which will do that
and do it well. Each has a steep learning curve, (so that you
do no twant to try several of them). Once you learn one, the effort
will pay dividends, since these are general purpose programs.

Since we all have individual preferences, there is a risk in giving
(and accepting) recommendations, but this situations seems to call
for doing exeacly that. So, I will take the risk.

My recommendation is to use


Scilab
 A high-level language (very similar to Matlab&Octave), primarily
intended for numerical computations. Includes a MAPLE interface.


There are others 

" (expensive) package mathematica , Matlab, or the (free) Matlab
clones: Octave and Scilab.
 Scilab is a free linear 
algebra system somewhat (but not totaly) similar to Matlab and can be 
found at http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab/  . "


Here is a  motley colection of alternatives
http://www.dctech.com/physics/software.php

but (as I said) I  tried a few, and strongly preffer SciLab,
from those which are free. If money are no object, Mathematica is great.

---------------insert on Mathematica
Mathematica Information Center: Interference and Diffraction ...
 ... Keywords, Interference, Diffraction, waves, Fraunhofer, Fresnel, URL,
 http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/Mathematica.html, Downloads, Interference .

Interference of waves
 ... some QuickTime movies of two-sorce interference pattern here ...
These movies were calculated
 with Mathematica and flattened ...  ... 
www2.biglobe.ne.jp/~norimari/science/if/e-if.html 

Mathematica Information Center: Exploring Localization in ...
 ... Mathematica Information Center ... physicists, the concept of
localization is an interference
 phenomenon that occurs for all types of waves, including light ... 
library.wolfram.com/infocenter/Articles/2055/ 

Google search terms :Mathematica interference waves 


------------------------------------end of Mathematica insert

 if you have a week or two to learn SciLab
(and reasonable level of understanding the
physics of your problem, and using simulation software)

you will be able to obtains quite complex partners of realistic situations
(sources, obstacles, ..) without any (low level) programming , such as c.

Naturally, one has to describe to the machine what the task is,
and that be considered programming too, and is done 
in these packages by composing complex input files
and soemtimes scripts.

good luck 

hedgie


Feeel free to ask for clarifications.

hedgie

---

Request for Answer Clarification by gburnett-ga on 19 Apr 2004 12:07 PDT

Hello Hedgie,

I am familiar with the programs you mentioned, and am reluctantly
fluent in Matlab, but instead of a general purpose mathematical
program I was looking for one that only does acoustic wave
propagation, as I am pressed for time and did not want to have to
build the acoustic model in Matlab.

Of course, if there is not a specific program available, I'll have to
try to do it in Matlab.  I would just prefer not to.

GReg

---

Clarification of Answer by hedgie-ga on 23 Apr 2004 17:13 PDT

gburnett

     I apologise for not responding immediately to your RFC

I had a few days of other pressing matter here
 and dit not get to daily checking
for RFC which I usually do.

I regret that I did not had the chance to do a real search to solution
of your problems. This is the type of siarches I specialize in.

 The initial answer is based on what you tell us in the question,

after you clarify,  and we know more, we can respond to your more specific needs,
 given time, of course.

You may request refund, you can also repost the question --

sorry it is not work out this time

hedgie

The answer to my question is incorrect.  I requested a repost a week
ago and my question is still closed.  Please refund my money and
repost the question!  It was not answered correctly!

This is NOT an answer to my question.  This is like me asking if
anyone has a horse trailer and the answer is that a guy knows where I
can find some steel, wood, tires, and axles.  I want a program that is
made to visualize acoustic wave propagation, not one that will allow
me to build a program that will allow me to visualize wave
propagation.  There is a big difference.  Hedgie did not respond to my
request for clarification.

Hi gburnett!

I think this might fit your needs: 

"Arup Acoustics 3D Visualization Tool

The graphics below are product of collaboration between 3D
Visualization and Arup Acoustics. Using a new technique developed in
house, it is possible to model the acoustic wave propagation in a 3D
space. The results shown here have been based on initial AutoCAD
drawings from the architect. The results create a dramatic
visualization of acoustical characteristics of the space."

http://www.arup.com/acoustics/downloads/3Dvisualization.htm

Cheers! 

P.S.: I'd aprecciate if you could post a comment about the importance
of this answer to your reasearch.

Thanks, Michel, but the link you supplied is simply an in-house tool
that an acoustic design studio uses to show their clients how a room
will respond acoustically.  I am looking for something I can download
and use myself in the design of acoustic-interacting objects.

Thank you for looking, though.

Greg

Dear gburnett,

Good day!

I have found a "possible" solution to your problem. Please checkout the link below:

http://www.csm.ornl.gov/cs/cumulvs.html

The download link is as follows:
http://www.netlib.org/cumulvs/

This software, developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is
available for free download. However, that's not the reason that I
have listed it. The application, CUMULVS, has been used in an acoustic
wave propagation application. In the acoustic wave propagation
application, the user can adjust input parameters, such as shot
location and intensity, on the fly.

Now, I don't know whether this is what will serve your purpose.
However, I hope that it does :)

Regards,
reeteshv-ga

Reetesh,

Thank you for the comment, but CUMULVS is simply a parallel processing
framework that allows the user to build scalable applications.  The
acoustic propagation example cited is not freely available and was
only used as an example of how CUMULVS could be used.  I need
something that is ready to go, not something that will allow me to
build a solution.  Thank you again, though, for the comment.

Greg