[en] The relative density of the superfluid component of ³He is expected to be significantly depressed by flow. For this reason the distortion of a finite amplitude fourth sound wave exhibits an unusual amplitude dependence. For waves of sufficiently large initial amplitude, a fully developed shock wave will contain two discontinuities per wavelength. Calculations which determine the threshold amplitude are presented and comparisons with thermodynamic data suggest that waves of sufficient amplitude should be experimentally accessible. A tabulation of the most recent thermodynamic data for ³He is included

[en] An array of sensors is receiving radiation from a source of interest. The source and the array are in a one- or two-dimensional waveguide. The maximum-likelihood estimators of the coordinates of the source are analyzed under the assumptions that the noise field is Gaussian. The Cramer-Rao lower bound is of the order of the number of modes which define the source excitation function. The results show that the accuracy of the maximum likelihood estimator of source depth using a vertical array in a infinite horizontal waveguide (such as the ocean) is limited by the number of modes detected by the array regardless of the array size

[en] In the inverse Born approximation the shape of a weak scatterer can be determined from a knowledge of the backscattered ultrasonic amplitude for all directions of incidence and all frequencies. Two questions are considered. First, what information on the scatterer shape is preserved and what is degraded if the scattering data are available only within a limited set of incident directions (limited aperture). This problem is addressed for a spherical weakly scattering uniform flaw. It is shown that the problem of a general uniform ellipsoidal flaw can be reduced to the spherical case by a scale transformation; however, the apertures in these two cases must be related by the same transformation. Second, limited aperture and finite bandwidth Born inversions were performed for strongly scattering flaws (voids and cracks) using numerically generated scattering amplitudes. These inversions were then compared with the weak scattering analytic results, which show many common features

[en] Tests and analyses are made for tubes conveying fluid for two types of support conditions. The objectives are to study the characteristics of different types of instability, the transition of one instability mechanism to another, and the control of instability

[en] J. D. Aindow and R. C. Chivers [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 73, 1833 (1983)] compared the precision of the direct ''time-of-flight'' technique with the ''sing-around'' method for sound velocity measurement. Their conclusion is changed by the newer, faster, commercial clocks (2 ns HP5345<0.1 ns HP5370), giving the advantage to the time of flight method. The analysis is herewith augmented by calculating the time jitter in terms of signal to noise ratio, which was correctly shown to be negligible with 100-ns clocks, but becomes increasingly more significant with faster clocks

[en] The diffuse-field concept is applied to develop the power balance equations relating the time-averaged energy densities associated with longitudinal and transverse waves to the diffuse-field mode conversion coefficients and the power generated by sources in the medium. A solution for an impulsive source in a solid with stress-free surfaces shows that, regardless of the initial partition of energy, the transverse-wave energy density quickly increases to become the dominant energy form in the medium

[en] This paper deals with analytic studies and numerical results of the scattering of plane sound waves from an elastic circular cylinder and from an elastic sphere in a viscous fluid. The elastic properties of the cylinder and the sphere and the viscosity of the surrounding fluid are taken into account in the solution of the acoustic-scattering problems. The associated acoustic quantities, such as the acoustic-scattering patterns, the acoustic-radiation forces, and the acoustic attenuation, are first derived in closed forms and then evaluated numerically for a given set of material properties. Numerical results show that increasing fluid viscosity tends to increase the directionality of the angular distribution of the scattering patterns, especially in the forward direction. The acoustic-radiation force on the cylinder or on the sphere is in the direction of the incident wave and increases as the viscosity of the fluid increases. The plots of the acoustic-attenuation coefficients versus the dimensionless wavenumber of the incident sound wave reveal oscillatory phenomena, which are caused by the resonant vibrations of the cylinder or the sphere

[en] Ultrasonic dispersion of extensional waves in fluid-saturated porous cylinders is studied by analyzing generalized Pochhammer equations derived using Biot's theory. Cases with open-pore surface and closed-pore surface boundary conditions are considered. For both cases, the dispersion of the fast extensional wave does not differ much qualitatively from the dispersion expected for extensional waves in isotropic elastic cylinders. A slow extensional wave propagates in the case with a closed-pore surface but not in the case with an open-pore surface. The propagating slow wave has very weak dispersion and its speed is always lower than, but close to, the bulk slow wave speed

[en] The relationship between scattering data obtained from ultrasonic experiments, in which the waves are excited and detected in a finite measurement geometry, and unbounded medium, farfield scattering amplitudes is considered. For a scatterer in a single fluid medium, a Green's function approach is used to develop an approximate, but absolute, relationship between these experimental and theoretical cases. Electromechanical reciprocity relationships are then employed to generalize to a two medium case in which the scatterer is located in an elastic solid which, along with the ultrasonic transducer, is immersed in a fluid medium. The case explicitly considered is one in which the incident waves are quasiplanar over the volume of the flaw and the scattering amplitudes are slowly varying over the range of angles subtended by the receiving transducer. Analytic approximations are developed for the absolute relationship of the received transducer signal to the unbounded medium scattering amplitudes, and formal expressions for the error terms are presented. Preliminary experimental confirmation is reported for the cases of (1) L→L and T→T pulse--echo scattering from oblate spheroidal voids and (2) both pulse--echo and pitch--catch L→L scattering from spherical inclusions. With no adjustable parameters, good agreement for both the phase and absolute amplitude response is observed

[en] A spectrophotometric and a radioactive-label technique were used to assess for acoustically induced iodine release from sodium iodide. Both techniques demonstrated a dose-dependent relationship between the percentage of iodine released and the ultrasound intensity (1 MHz, I/sub sp/ to 30 W/cm², continuous wave for 1 min). Iodine release decreased with increased atmospheric pressure or increased concentrations of the radical scavenger cysteamine, thus confirming that the release was related to cavitational processes. 14 references, 5 figures