SIMULATION OF ACOUSTICAL PRODUCT PROPERTIES FOR TECHNICAL SYSTEMS IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Virtual Prototyping is an important tool to verify and optimize product properties in the early design phases. By using digital product models many simulations of the system behavior can be carried out (instead of physical testing) and therefore development cost and time can be reduced. For the development of innovative complex technical systems the applied models should comprehend the most important product properties. Today there are still deficits in modeling and evaluating the acoustical behavior of technical products which is particular important for consumer goods and automobile industries. A flexible audio-visual projection system was configured which combines stereoscopic visualization in a CAVE with a new spatial acoustic reproduction method: wave-field-synthesis (WFS). This technology enables a realistic sound impression which is independent of the position of the listener. For this, a scene representation is needed that provides the sound reproduction synchronously with the visualization of machinery, cars and other technical systems. This paper describes the goals of the new audio-visual Virtual Reality (VR)-system and its use as an innovative tool for a realistic representation and presentation of audio-visual product properties, even in early design phases. The paper is mainly focused on methods to describe acoustical product properties of technical systems for an interactive presentation in real-time Virtual Reality during design process.