The analytical approach used in determining the response and
ultimately the fatigue behavior of panels exposed to the sound fields discussed earlier is an extension of Miles' work. The method uses the modal analysis results. i.e., normalized modal displacements and modal stresses. to obtain the load-deflection relationship. The effect of finite acoustic wavelengths on the panel response is incorporated through simultaneous consideration of spatial characteristics for both the structural modes and the sound field. Initially. the surface pressure distribution is approximated by the mass-weighted structural mode shape. For the fundamental mode of the panel, the estimate is similar to the assumption of uniform pressure. The advantage of this assumption is that it tends to produce a conservative estimate for each mode and the measure of spatial correlation (joint acceptance) between modal and acoustic fields is rendered unity. The accuracy of this approximation depends on the degree to which the mass-weighted mode shape reflects the actual pressure field shape. However, improvements to that joint acceptance estimate are developed which do not require detailed modeling of the acoustic field or numerical integration. This improvement is based on the relation between the structural and acoustic wavelengths. Thus, after a mode-by-mode evaluation of sonic stresses is performed initially, the joint acceptance correction detects and adjusts underpredicted and/or overpredicted sonic stress estimates. Finally, the overall stresses are obtained by summing the squares of contributions of the individual modes. A more detailed presentation of the analytical procedure is given in Reference [4-5]. Once the acoustically induced stresses have been determined, a direct comparison with available random fatigue data provides estimates for the number of mechanical cycles that can be sustained.