Series expansion for the sound field of rotating sources

A method is derived for the fast, exact prediction of acoustic fields around rotating sources by using a series expansion which generalizes a previously published method for a circular piston. The technique gives exact predictions for the field outside the sphere containing the rotor in a computational time two orders of magnitude less than that required for direct numerical evaluation of the acoustic integrals. Its use is demonstrated by application to two sample problems characteristic of real aircraft propellers.