Abstract: The acoustic radiation modes and the field distribution modes describe the radiation patterns of a complex vibrating surface and the field distribution patterns respectively. The physical meanings of the acoustic radiation modes and the field distribution modes are revealed by numerical method. For a sphere body, a spinning body and a rectangular body, the geometrical patterns of the acoustic radiation modes and the field distribution modes are given. The radiation mode 1 represents the radiation behavior of a monopole radiator, the radiation modes 2 through 4 represent the radiation behavior of dipole radiators respectively, and the radiation modes 5 through 9 represent the radiation behavior of quadrapole radiators respectively. The acoustic radiation modes and the field distribution modes introduce the multi-pole decomposition method into discussion of the acoustic radiation problems.