Design sensitivity analysis of three-dimensional acoustic problems using a fast multipole accelerated indirect BEM

In this paper, the design sensitivity formulations for three-dimensional acoustic problems are presented based on the indirect boundary element method (IBEM). The non-unique solution difficulty of the IBEM in solving exterior acoustic problems is avoided by applying a hybrid combination of single and double layer potentials. In order to accelerate the computational procedure easily, a set of non-singular indirect boundary integral equations (IBIEs) for the acoustic design sensitivity analysis are derived and then the fast multipole method (FMM) is employed to accelerate the matrix–vector products in the IBEM. The method is further extended to the design sensitivity analysis of thin-body acoustic problems above an infinite plane. Numerical examples are given to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the method, and the simulations of thin-body acoustic problems show its potential in engineering applications.