Sound scattering by a hard half-plane: Experimental evidence of the edge-diffracted wave

In this short note, some experimental results are presented on the diffraction of a spherical way by a hard half-plane. This study was conducted with the aim to give evidence to the existence of the edge-diffracted wave. The sound source used in this experimental study is a condenser microphone operating in a reverse way. The wave emitted by a sound source propagates in space and hits a thin aluminium sheet with a straight edge, considered as an idealization of the hard half-plane. The resulting impulse response includes among others a wave diffracted by the edge of the half-plane, which is compared to its theoretical prediction. This latter is calculated from the exact Biot and Tolstoy solution to the problem of diffraction of a spherical wave by a hard wedge. Relatively satisfactory agreement is found between theory and experiment.