IMPEDANCE AND MOBILITY CONCEPTS

1. Introduction
For the noise and vibration control engineer is the analysis and subsequently the
prediction of the consequences of different vibro-acoustical systems the daily task. In
most situations, these systems consist of several parts, which interact and together
colour the excitation. Partly, such a colouration takes place at the input where the
source interacts with the system under study, partly during the transmission through
the system and eventually also an interaction at the output.

The analysis of a complete complex, built-up system is usually overwhelming and

only in some few exceptional cases meaningful. By means of a subdivision of the
complete system into smaller and manageable parts, the work can be greatly
facilitated. In order to handle the interaction be it at the input, in between two parts or
at the output, the acoustical and dynamical characteristics of each part have to be
described and quantified. Obviously, for the input and output interaction, the
characteristics of the assembled system will be of primary concern which then are
functions of those of the parts. Where all parts have matched characteristics a wave
sees limited disturbances during propagation and little coloration takes place. If, on
the other hand, all parts have mismatched characteristics, the wave experiences a
change at each interface whereby reflections occur such that a significant change to
the input signal results.

In this pursuit the concepts of impedance and its opposite, mobility, are very
important. Both realize a ratio between a reaction of the subsystem to a given, applied
action. The impedance and mobility concepts are only defined for linear systems and
relate to harmonic excitation and response. The latter is not really a restriction since
for linear systems and processes, the usually non-periodic excitations and responses
always can be decomposed in their Fourier components. Although no formal
restrictions exist, a widespread convention has emerged for when to use impedances
and when mobilities. For the fluid-borne sound i.e., sounds in gases and liquids, it is

convenient to work in terms of impedances whereas for the structure-borne sound, the
mobility formulation appears preferred. One explanation for this would possibly be
that the blocked boundary condition is natural for a fluid that is bounded whereas
the free boundary condition is almost automatic for a separate structural part but
there are certainly several exceptions.

The thorough physical understanding of these concepts and the ability to think or
work in terms of networks with impedances or mobilities is one of the most vital
skills for the noise and vibration control engineer.
2. Impedances
This quantity is generally defined as the pressure or force divided by some velocity.
In this manner one can distinguish between mechanical and acoustic impedance, the
latter of which comes in many forms.

For the mechanical impedance it is commonly the ratio between the force and the
velocity that is understood and this means that the input impedance of the classical
blocked (grounded) single-degree-of-freedom, mass-spring-damper system is given
by,

Z = j! M + R +

K
j!

(1)

readily derived from the governing differential equation. Herein of course, M is the
mass and K the spring stiffness whilst R is the damping In Figure 1 is shown the
typical signature of the single-degree-of-freedom system to magnitude and phase for
some different values of the damping R.

10

|Z|, [Ns/m]

10

10

10

10

-1

10

10

10

10

10

Angular frequency, [Hz]

2

Phase, [rad]

-1

-2
0

10

Figure 1.

10

10

10

Angular frequency, [Hz]

Magnitude and phase of impedance for a damped single-degree-offreedom system for some values of damping. () R=1, (-------)
R=5 and () R=50 Ns/m.

Observed in Figure 1 are three distinct regions, At low frequencies, the system is
governed by the spring stiffness, corresponding to the third term in (1) i.e., when the
is mass excited at a frequency to a given velocity, the reaction force is that produced
by the spring. This force decreases linearly with frequency. For high frequencies, on
the other hand, the mass governs the system corresponding to the first term and the
reaction force is the inertia of the mass. At some intermediate frequency the
imaginary part of the impedance cancel and a resonant behaviour occurs. The system
is governed by the damper i.e. the real part of the impedance. This means that only in
a narrow band around the resonance frequency !0 = K M , the damper plays a role.
With respect to the phase, the stiffness-controlled region is featured by a negative

phase equal to - ! / 2 i.e., the force lags the velocity (but not the displacement) in
time. The mass controlled range on the other hand has a positive phase, ! / 2 and
hence the force leads the velocity (but not the acceleration). In the resonant range,
close to the resonance frequency, the phase approaches zero and precisely at
resonance, the force and the velocity are in phase and hence maximum mechanical
power is fed to the system. As is further seen from the graphs, the impedance has its
minimum at resonance and this minimum gets shallower the more damping is applied.
Also the range in which the system behaves actively i.e., the impedance has a nonnegligible real part is widened. The opposite behaviour is called reactive for which the
impedance is essentially imaginary.

The features introduced above which, are physically rather straightforward to obtain a
feel for, shall be transferred to acoustic systems in the following. Thereby must be
principally distinguished between the geometry of the wave front.
2.1 Plane waves
The plane wave constitutes the simplest form of a one-dimensional wave field. In
such a field the wave fronts form plane where all fluid particles oscillate in phase.
This is of course irrespective of whether the wave propagates in a duct with rigid
walls (well below the frequency where half the wavelength equals the largest crosssectional dimension) or occurs in free space, far away in radial direction from the
source. One can, moreover, also imagine such waves in two- and three-dimensional
systems but then emanating from highly artificial distributed sources or occurring at
high frequencies and having propagated a long distance from the source.

For the plane wave, the impedance at a point is simply given by,
Zsa =

p(x)
= !c
v(x)

(2)

since !p = " # ( dv dt ) $ " jkp = " j%#v for a harmonic motion. This form of
impedance is conventionally called the specific acoustic impedance owing to the fact
that it refers to a specific point (and a specific direction). It is also termed the
characteristic impedance since it describes the characteristics of the wave-carrying
medium, in this case the fluid. The characteristic impedance, however, is only defined
for plane waves.

For plane waves in a ductwork it is also possible to define an acoustic impedance,

Za =

(1 S) ! p(y, z)dS
S

! v(y, z)dS

p
q

(3)

which then is the ratio between the cross-sectionally averaged pressure and the
volume velocity at a certain axial co-ordinate. The acoustic impedance is a convenient
quantity since various sections of a ductwork can be lumped as for a mechanical
system and wave guides for plane waves can be handled as two-port i.e., having one
input and one output terminal.

To exemplify the acoustic impedance, the so-called Helmholtz resonator serves

excellently since it constitutes the acoustical counterpart to the mechanical massspring system. To physically realize a Helmholtz resonator one can take a bottle and
smoothly blow across its opening. At its fundamental resonance, all parts inside the
bottle are substantially smaller than the wavelength. The airplug in the bottleneck
therefore establishes a fluid mass, which sits on a spring formed by the enclosed and
blocked air in the cavity below the neck.

To derive the acoustic impedance of the airplug, given a cross-sectional area S and a
length l, the plane wave in an open-ended duct is considered. In the duct the pressure
is established by the forwardly propagating wave and the reflected such that,

p(x,t) = p+e-

jkx

+ p- e jkx e j!t

For simplicity the time base e

j!t

is henceforth omitted. At the open end at x = l , the

net pressure must be zero since nothing exists outside the duct and hence,
p- = - p+e - j 2kl . Similarly, the particle velocity in the tube can be written,
v(x) = v+e-

jkx

+v- e jkx

and since from previous p v = !c for the plane wave, it is readily found that
v(x) =

The sign

p+ - jkx p- jkx
e
e
!c
!c

change for the negatively travelling wave is due to the fact that the

associated velocity is directed in the negative direction such that the intensity is also
directed opposite the chosen positive x-direction. Upon substituting for the negative
pressure in the negative direction and selecting the origin, the impedance of the open
tube can be determined according to (2) as,

(
(

)
)

p+ 1- e- 2 jkl
1
!c (1- (cos2kl - j sin2kl))
Za (x = 0) = !c
=
- 2 jkl
S
S (1+(cos2kl - j sin2kl))
p+ 1+e

Because the bottleneck is assumed short in comparison with the wavelength it is

possible to expand the trigonometric function for small arguments and the bottleneck
impedance can be found to be given by,

Za,mass = j !"l S

(4)

which is clearly mass controlled in accordance with the discussion above regarding
the mechanical system.

Similarly, for the tube with a closed end, the particle velocity at that end must vanish
such that,
v(l) = v+e-

jkl

+v- e jkl = 0

which means that v- =- v +e - j 2kl . Thus the acoustic impedance for the closed ended
tube can be developed as,

(
(

)
)

- 2 jkl
1 v+ 1+e
!c (1+(cos2kl - j sin2kl))
Za (x = 0) = !c
=
2
jkl
S v+ 1- e
S (1- (cos2kl - j sin2kl))

which for small kl yields,

Za,spring = - j

!c 2
!c 2
=- j
S"l
"V

(5)

where, in the last form, V is introduced for the volume. For the assembled Helmholtz
resonator therefore, the acoustic impedance becomes,
Za,HR = j!("l / S - c 2 / "V )

(6)

In practice, the velocity of the airplug mass can become significant and therefore also
the friction at the bottleneck wall should be accounted for, giving some damping term.

In this manner, the acoustic impedance of some practically important ductwork

elements can be derived such that the system impedance for arbitrary combinations
can be conveniently developed.
2.2 Cylindrical waves
For cylinders exhibiting a radial motion, the wave fronts arising in an ambient fluid
will be cylindrical. A practical example is the sound radiated from a long array of cars
driving on a straight stretch of a motorway.
The wave equation in cylindrical co-ordinates governing the propagation is given by,
$ 2 1 #2 '
&% ! " c 2 #t 2 )( p = 0

(7)

where the Laplace operator is,

"2 1 " 1 "2

"2
! = 2+
+
+
"r
r "r r 2 "# 2 "z 2
2

The general solution, which is not derived here (see e.g. [1]), in the frequency
j!t
domain for a time base of e
can be developed as,

(8)

p(r, ! , z, " ) =

+e

# jn!

n = #)

1
2$

* %& A (k ," )e
+

# jkz z

#)

H n(2) (kr r) + A# (kz , " )e# jkz z H n(1) (kr r) '( dkz

(10)
Herein, A+ and A- are the amplitudes of the outward and inward propagating waves
of wavenumber kz in the axial direction. Hn(1,2) are called the Hankel functions of
order n and first or second kind. It should be noted that with the positive time base
chosen here, the outward travelling waves are always associated with Hankel
functions of second kind whilst those travelling inwards with those of first kind. The
order number n or circumferential wavenumber kn is slightly different from the radial
kr and the axial in that it is discrete and not continuous as the two other. This is so

since any wave motion in the circumferential direction along a cylindrical wavefront
must repeat itself after 2! and hence only certain shapes or modes are permitted such
that they close in phase. Alternatively, this spatial distribution can be said to be
periodic and for such functions there is an associated Fourier series instead of the
Fourier integral.
In this context there is no possibility to cover all cases of cylindrical fields but the
analysis will be limited to that of a helical wave field. For this field the wavefronts
spirals around a cylindrical surface simultaneously as they propagate in the radial
direction.
Upon assuming that for a given frequency ! , the pressure at the surface ( r = r0 ) of an
infinitely extended cylinder, situated in an otherwise unbounded space, is given by,
p(r0 , ! , z, " ) =

'

e# jn!

n = #%

1
2$

& A (k ," )e
+

# jkz z

H n(2) (kr r0 )dkz

(11)

#%

where only radiation to the exterior is studied, then a spatial Fourier series
decomposition together with a spatial Fourier transform yields the pressure
wavenumber spectrum as,
1
p n (r0 , kz ) =
2!
^

2!

% d" % p(r ,", z)e

0

#$

jn"

e jkz z dz

(12)

With the inverse transform and the Fourier series of the wavenumber spectrum, the
spatial pressure at the surface can be regained,
p(r0 , ! , z) =

&e

" jn!

n = "$

1
2#

$ ^

% p(r , k )e
0

" jkz z

dkz

(13)

"$

From a comparison with (11), it is realised that,

^

p n (r0 , kz ) = A+ (kz , ! )H n(2) (kr r0 )

(14)

which means that the amplitude of the outwardly propagating wave equals,
^

p (r , k )
A+ (kz , ! ) = n(2) 0 z
H n (kr r0 )

(15)

With the amplitude expressed indirectly in the surface pressure distribution, via the
Fourier decomposition and transform, the pressure can be determined for an arbitrary
point at radial distance r from the cylindrical source surface. By taking the double
Fourier transform of the relationship between velocity and pressure i.e.,
!p = " # ( dv dt ) , the frequency domain version in cylindrical co-ordinates becomes,
^

v n (r, kz ) =

k (^
1 %j "
n
e r # e$ # z e z * p n (r, kz )
'&
!c k "r
kr
k )

(16)

wherein k is the wavenumber of the free wave in the fluid k 2 = k r2 +k n2 +k z2 . Then by

substituting equation (14) with (15) into (16), the radial velocity component at the
point can be found to be given by,
^

v n (r, kz ) =

jkr # "
H n(2) (kr r)
!ck %$ "kr r

&^
H n(2) (kr r0 ) ( p n (r, kz )
'

from which a specific wave impedance, defined by,

^

Z n (r,k z ) =

p n (r, kz )

(17)

v n (r, kz )
2

Upon recognizing that kr = k - kn - kz , the specific wave impedance in (17) can

be developed as,

Z n (r, kz ) =

H n(2) ( k 2 " kn2 " kz2 r)

!ck

&
j k 2 " kn2 " kz2 # n (2)
2
2
2
(2)
2
2
2
% k H n ( k " kn " kz r) " H n +1 ( k " kn " kz r) (
$ r
'
(18)

To get an impression of the impedance, a limiting value approach can be employed

whereby the asymptotic relation

2 # j (z # n2" # "4 )
H (z) !
e
"z
2
n

is invoked which is valid for large arguments such as when r becomes large. In this
manner is obtained,

"ck

Z n (r, kz ) !

j k # k # k $n # j'
&% 2
)(
2

2
n

2
z

which is in general complex. For the special but extremely important case in which

n = 0 , however, the specific wave impedance is given by,

^

Z 0 (r, kz ) !

"ck
k 2 # kz2

(19)

and from this expression it is observed that for k >> kz the impedance tends to equal

!c i.e., the characteristic impedance as well as the specific wave impedance for a
plane wave. For the opposite case whereby the axial wavelength is much smaller than
that of the free fluid wave, one may note that the radical becomes imaginary and thus
there will be only a reactive field and therefore no wave propagation to the farfield.
The cylindrical wave impedance is in [2] plotted for several different n as function of
Helmholtz number kr.
2.3 Spherical waves
In conjunction with the elementary sources of fluid-borne sound, the monopole was
studied. Such an elementary source realizes a spherically symmetric wave field i.e.,

there is no angular variation. Also derived was the radiation impedance seen by the
monopole amounting to,
Z=

p(r0 )
jkr0
= !c
v0
1+ jkr0

which for large Helmholtz numbers i.e., high frequencies and/or large distances from
the source tends to the characteristic impedance of the fluid, !c .
In addition to the elementary monopole there are of course many other instances when
a spherical wave field must be analyzed. Practical examples are the fields in the
vicinity of industrial machines in large factory halls and outdoor activities. In analogy
with the treatment of cylindrical fields the principle of superposition of individual
waves will be employed which then can be imagined emanating from a spherical
surface vibrating with different but defined patterns associated with the particular
wave studied.
The wave equation is given in equation (7) but the Laplace operator must be modified
to,
% 1 "
"
1
"
"
1
"2 (
.
! 2 = ' 2 (r 2 ) + 2
(sin # ) + 2 2
"r r sin # "#
"#
r sin # "$ 2 *)
& r "r

(20)

To get a picture of the geometry one may recall that the Cartesian co-ordinates are
related to the spherical through, x = r sin! cos" , y = r sin! sin" and z = r cos! as is
illustrated in Figure 2.

e"
z

"

Figure 2.

er
e!

Spherical co-ordinates and associated unit vectors.

The pressure gradient is obtained as,

!p =

"p
1 "p
1 "p
er +
e# +
e$
"r
r "#
r sin # "$

which means that the particle velocity vector is obtained as (cf. Eq. (16)),

v(r,! , " ) =

j
%p
#$

Also as in the cylindrical case, the solution is sought in terms of separated variables
whereby the pressure is obtained as a product of four parts,
p(r,! ,",t) = R(r)# (! )$ (")T(t)

the radial, the lateral, the azimuthal and the temporal. Upon applying such a form, the
general solution, again in the frequency domain (see e.g. [1]), can be found to be
given on the form,
*

p(r,! , " , # ) = )

) $%C

n=0 m=(n

mn

(# )hn(1) (kr) + Dmn (# )hn(2) (kr) &' Ynm (! , " ) ,

(21)

with the time base chosen positive as before. Herein, C and D are functions of
frequency to be determined by the boundary conditions. Precisely as for cylindrical

waves, the propagating wave solution (as opposed to a standing wave one) are
combined from Hankel functions; in this case thus spherical Hankel functions where
the super-index denotes the kind and the sub-index the order. A Hankel function of
first kind thus represents the inward propagating waves whereas the second kind those
travelling outwards. The functional dependence on the two angular co-ordinates can
be combined as in equation (21) in one function, conventionally termed the spherical
harmonic which, is related to the Legendre polynomials and is given on the form [3],
m

Yn (! ," ) =

(2n +1) (n - m)! m

- jm"
Pn (cos! )e
4# (n +m)!

As in the case of a cylindrical field, one often has to distinguish between the inner and
the outer problems and in this context essentially the latter issue will be considered.
For that purpose serves the example in Figure 3. It is further to note that in order not
complicate matters too much, no outer boundary exist for the spatial domain. The
source is enclosed by the smallest sphere that can fully house the radiating source and
its radius

Figure 3.

Illustration of an exterior problem.

is assumed equal to r0. As soon as, for example, the pressure field is known on a
spherical surface, the three-dimensional field outside the source can be determined by
employing the solution in equation (21). For the outer problem, the term representing
the inwards propagating waves can be dropped and the pressure is thus given by,
&

p(r,! , " , # ) = %

%D

n=0 m=$n

mn

(# )hn(2) (kr)Ynm (! , " )

(21a)

The unknown functions Dmn , sometimes termed coefficients although they have a
frequency dependence, are determined from the boundary conditions i.e., those at the
hypothetical surface enclosing the radiator. In doing this the orthonormality property
of the spherical harmonics is employed [3]. This property means that,
2$

% d! % Y

m
n

(" , ! )Ynm# # (" , ! )* sin " d" = & nn #& mm #

such that unity results only for n = n! and m = m! and all cross terms cancel. In the
orthonormality relation, the * denotes complex conjugate and !ij is the Kronecker
delta,
#1 ; i = j
! ij = $
%0 ; i " j

Thus, both sides of equation (21a) are multiplied by Yqp (! ," )* and integrated over the
surface of a unit sphere which yields,
Dmn (! )hn (kr) =

2$ $

% % p(r," ,# )Y

m
n

(" , # )* sin " d" d#

0 0

If this is evaluated at r = r0 where the pressure is assumed known, then the unknown
coefficients become,
1
Dmn (! ) =
hn (kr0 )

2$ $

% % p(r ," ,# )Y
0

m
n

(" , # )* sin " d" d#

0 0

and substituted back into equation (21a), the pressure field in the outer domain is
given by

2$ $

hn(2) (kr) n m
p(r,! , " , # ) = ' (2)
' Yn (! ," ) %
n = 0 hn (kr0 ) m = & n
0

% p(r ,! ," )Y
0

m
n

(! , " )* sin ! d! d"

(22)

Accordingly, this relates the known pressure at the hypothetical surface to that on a
spherical surface at r.
When confined to linear acoustic analysis, the form of the spherical pressure field is
retained also for the particle velocity just as for all the other wave fields considered.
This means that one can immediately write the radial particle velocity as,
vmn (r) =

2# #

$ $ v(r,! ," )Y

m
n

(! , " )* sin ! d! d"

(23)

0 0

and, by the same orthonomality token as above, its inverse,

%

v(r,! , " ) = $

$ v

n=0 m=#n

mn

(r)Ynm (! , " )

(24)

With the help of the relation between pressure and particle velocity (Eulers
equation), in this case the spherical version, one finds from equation (22) that,
v(r,! , " ) =

2$ $

j ( hn(2)(kr) n m
'
' Yn (! ," ) %
#c n = 0 hn(2) (kr0 ) m = & n
0

% p(r ,! ," )Y
0

m
n

(! , " )* sin ! d! d"

(25)

where then, hn(2)(kr) = !hn(2) (kr) !(kr) . Upon comparing equations (24) and (25) it is
seen that,
vmn (r) =

j hn(2)(kr)
!c hn(2) (kr0 )

2$ $

% % p(r ," ,# )Y
0

m
n

(" , # )* sin " d" d#

(26)

0 0

In analogy with what was introduced regarding the cylindrical waves, it is possible
and handy to define the specific acoustic impedance as,
Zmn =

p mn
v mn

(27)

that is, a specific acoustic impedance for each spherical harmonic component
whereby,

p mn (r) =

2# #

$ $ p(r,! ," )Y

m
n

(! , " )* sin ! d! d"

0 0

In particular, at the hypothetical enclosing surface, r = r0 , the specific acoustic

impedance is,

Z mn (r0 ) = ! j "c

hn(2) (kr0 )
hn(2)(kr0 )

(28)

For small radii and or small wavenumbers i.e., small arguments of the spherical
Hankel functions, the asymptotic behaviour is given by
lim hn(2) (z) = lim [ jn (z) " iyn (z)] = i
z!0

z!0

1# 3 # 5!(2n " 1)
z n +1

and by using this and its derivative in equation (28) one obtains,

Z mn (r0 ) ! j "c

kr0
(n + 1)

Accordingly, the radial specific impedance seen by the source is to first order mass
controlled but where the mass diminishes with increasing order. For large distances,
on the other hand, the asymptotic relation for large arguments applies which have the
following leading term,

lim hn(2) (z) = ei(n +1)# 2

z!"

e$iz
z

By using this asymptote and the derivative of the spherical Hankel, given by the
recurrence relation,
hn(2)(z) = hn(2)!1 (z) !

n + 1 (2)
hn (z)
z

one finds the specific wave impedance as

Z mn (r) ! "c

jkr
[(n + 1) + jkr ]

Of particular interest is, as already explained in conjunction with sources of sound,

the elementary zero order spherical harmonic. This corresponds to a sphere that is
simply breathing with a uniform radial velocity. Upon letting m=n=0, it is readily seen
that the radiation impedance of the monopole is regained.
3. References
[1]
[2]
[3]

Skudrzyk E., 1971. Foundations of Acoustics. Springer Verlag, New York.

Junger M. C. and Feit D., 1993. Sound, structures and their interaction.
Acoustcal Society of America.
Morse P.M. and Feshbach H., 1953. Methods of theoretical phyics, part I.
McGraw-Hill, New York.