Optimal design of a barrel stave flextensional transducer

The performance of a barrel stave flextensional transducer is determined by the properties of its constituent materials and the effects of many structural parameters. In most cases, the influences of these variables are not linearly independent of each other. In order to achieve optimal performance of an acoustic transducer, we have to consider the cross-coupled effects of its structural variables. The structure of a barrel stave flextensional transducer was optimized by considering all the cross-coupled effects of its structural variables in order to achieve the widest bandwidth while satisfying the requirements regarding transmitting voltage response and center frequency. The optimization process consists of finite element analysis (FEA) of the transducer performance in regard to its structural variables, statistical multiple regression analysis of the FEA results, and constrained maximization of a target function (i.e., the bandwidth) in sequence.