Sound generation as a drop falls on a water surface

Impact of a drop on a water surface is accompanied by a series of sound pulses propagating in air and underwater. Depending on the falling mode (drop size and initial velocity), pulses substantially differ in amplitude, duration, and modulation frequency. We study falling modes in which in addition to conventional sound packets—the shock pulse and single resonance sound packets—several packets are observed. Experiments were conducted with simultaneous recording of sound in air and underwater and were accompanied by synchronous video depiction of currents in the drop impact region. Comparison of videograms and phonograms demonstrate that the sources of sound packets are gas cavities of arbitrary shape detached from the underwater cavern under the action of large accelerations (several km/s²) during a sharp change in its surface area, which gradually achieve equilibrial elliptical and spherical shapes.     

Strong generation of coherent acoustic phonons in semiconductor quantum dots

We present experimental results obtained in two-color pump-probe experiments performed in semiconductor self-assembled quantum dot (QD) layers. The sample reflectivities present several acoustic contributions, among which are strong acoustic phonon wave packets. A comparison between one- and two-color experiments and a fine analysis of the echo shape attest that a high magnitude phonon pulse emerges from each single QD layer. This conclusion is supported by a numerical modeling which perfectly reproduces our experimental signals only if we introduce a strong generation in each QD layer. We explain such a strong emission thanks to an efficient capture of the carriers by the QDs.     

Primary acoustic signal structure during free falling drop collision with a water surface

Consistent optical and acoustic techniques have been used to study the structure of hydrodynamic disturbances and acoustic signals generated as a free falling drop penetrates water. The relationship between the structures of hydrodynamic and acoustic perturbations arising as a result of a falling drop contacting with the water surface and subsequent immersion into water is traced. The primary acoustic signal is characterized, in addition to stably reproduced features (steep leading edge followed by long decay with local pressure maxima), by irregular high-frequency packets, which are studied for the first time. Reproducible experimental data are used to recognize constant and variable components of the primary acoustic signal.     

Emission of the sequence of sound packets during a drop falling onto the surface of water

Emission of sound signals accompanying the fall of a water drop onto a free liquid surface is investigated in a laboratory bath by high-speed video filming and underwater acoustics. Emission of high-frequency sound is detected during the initial contact of the drop with the surface. Low-frequency sound packets are observed after a prolonged silence interval with the formation of nonequilibrium-shaped gas cavities with sharpenings during their reconstruction into spherical bubbles. By virtue of complexity of the flow pattern at the stages of detachment and coalescence of gas cavities, the frequency and intensity of the emitted sound varied in wide ranges even under invariable initial experimental conditions.     

声发射监测隧道围岩活动性

目的是确定隧道围岩变形破裂的活动性，保证上方近距离高层大楼的安全使用，采用EAE－04声电测试系统，以测试大楼及隧道围岩的活动性，采用声发射（AE）和电磁辐射（EME）信号上升沿时间和持续时间的关系，排除噪音等的影响，确定有效信号；采用AE频度和能量率的变化规律，EME脉冲数的变化规律，来分析隧道周围岩体的活动性并进行实时检测，为大楼及隧道的稳定性评价提供了依据。     

Energy relaxation by hot carriers in wurtzite GaN epilayers

In this paper, we report hot carrier energy relaxation processes studied by acoustic phonon emission in wurtzite GaN epilayers, using the heat pulse technique. In this method, the carriers were heated up by means of short (≈ 10 ns) voltage pulses and emitted phonons were detected by Al bolometers biased at their superconducting transition. Obtained phonon signals indicate that the optical phonon emission threshold has not been reached and longitudinal acoustic and transverse acoustic modes can be clearly resolved. This paper specifically concentrates on the electron temperature dependence of the energy relaxation rates and compares the experimental results with the existing theory.     

Influence of Molecular Effects on the Emission of Sound in a Low-Velocity Impact of a Drop on Water Surface

The dynamics of an impact pressure pulse and the evolution of the coalescence bridge between a drop and the surface of water are investigated in experiments on the impact of the drop on water surface in the range of low impact velocities U. Experimental sequences of radii r _i of the bridge, which are approximated by a function of the form t^1/2, are extrapolated to the instant of contact and are compared with radii r _k of the outer contour of the cross section formed by the bottom part of the drop with the surface. The impact pressure pulse exhibits the critical dependence on ratio \({\varepsilon _{\text{i}}}(U) = {\dot r_i}/{\dot r_k}\) of the velocities of spreading. The value of ε = 1 determines the velocity threshold below (above) which the pressure is hydrodynamic (hydroacoustic) by nature.     

Fragmentation instabilities of a drop as it falls in a miscible fluid

We review here a series of experiments on the fragmentation instabilities that a liquid drop undergoes as it falls inside a fluid with which it is miscible, so called the solvent. Motivated by the original experiments initiated by Thomson and Newall in 1885, we started to investigate this subject more than one decade ago, encountering up to date a number of challenging problems in hydrodynamical instabilities, complicated by the presence of transient interfaces between the drop and the solvent. In particular, we have shown that when a drop of liquid is deposited over the surface of the same liquid, it falls down inside the solvent because the energy associated to its surface tension against air is instantaneously converted into kinetic energy. As a consequence, a very fast fluid injection takes place as the drop touches the free surface of the solvent and the drop enters inside the solvent. Due to the hydrodynamical instabilities related to the large velocity gradients, it develops into a ring that expands radially. The ring continues to go downwards inside the solvent until it stops at a certain height due to viscous dissipation. In the first stages of the ring expansion, a fluid membrane remains attached to the ring, so-called “turban" for its shape, which is concave or convex depending on the sign of the density difference between the drop and the solvent. When a small density difference is introduced between the drop and the solvent, the ring becomes unstable because of density gradients and it fragments into smaller droplets. On their turn, the secondary droplets may undergo the same instability and may fragment again, so that a cascade of fragmentation takes place. If the density difference is positive, that is, the drop is heavier than the solvent, the secondary droplets continue to go down deeper inside the solvent, until the whole process is washed out by the slow diffusion of the concentration gradients. When the density difference between the drop and the solvent is negative, then the secondary droplets rise up to the free surface of the solvent, where they are distorted by the equivalent of an impact with a rigid wall. Universal scaling laws for the cascade of fragmentation and for the dynamical behavior of the drop have been derived and accompany the experimental observations.     

混凝土材料声发射信号的频率特征及其与强度参量的相关性试验研究

混凝土材料声发射信号频率特征与强度指标的关系是混凝土材料声发射检测技术的重要基础。通过实验,对声发射信号频率特征与混凝土强度指标的相关关系进行了探讨。研究结果表明,在较低的应力水平上,不同强度等级混凝土声发射信号大都是低频信号。而在较高应力水平时,随着强度等级的增加,声发射信号的优势频率则逐渐升高。     

Acoustic emission during laser annealing of silicon single crystals

The acoustic response of silicon single crystals to the action of a millisecond laser pulse, with an excitation wavelength 1.06 μm, has been investigated. It has been discovered for the first time that additional acoustic emission, delayed in time with respect to the photoacoustic response, is observed for laser energy flux density above the threshold corresponding to surface melting. The delay time depends linearly on the laser radiation power and varies from one to tens of milliseconds. It is shown, by comparing the parameters of the acoustic emission with the dynamical development of thermoelastic stresses in the laser action zone as well as with the kinetics of melting of the irradiated surface, that crack formation under the action of the thermoelastic stresses is the source of the additional acoustic emission. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 505–509 (March 1997)     

超高速撞击声发射信号在载人航天器加筋结构的传播特性实验研究

为研究超高速撞击声发射信号经过载人航天器加筋结构后的传播规律,分别在平板结构和加筋结构上模拟高速撞击实验,利用传感器阵列采集高速撞击产生的声发射信号。结合小波和傅里叶分析方法从板波模态、频域以及时域三方面分析加筋结构对声发射信号传播特性的影响,并研究成坑和穿孔损伤模式下声发射信号的传播规律。结果表明:加筋板中的信号高频部分比平板中高频部分能量少,筋体对信号高频部分有滤波效果。加筋结构受高速撞击产生穿孔损伤时,S0模态声波的能量增多。研究成果可为载人航天器结构的高速撞击感知与定位技术提供有利参考。      

声发射辅以模糊神经网络的质量检测

利用铸铁工件在加载与卸载时所产生的声发射信号作为神经网络模式识别的输入特征，并对网络输入量与输出量进行模糊化隶属度计算，用最陡下降的BP学习法对连接权重系数进行优化，成功地实现了对铸铁工件样本组的训练和分类。     

Radiophysical and radio astronomical diagnostics of ionospheric effects induced by a ground-based infrasonic transmitter (preliminary results)

We present results of preliminary studies aimed at detection of weak ionospheric disturbances induced by acoustic emission of a ground-based controlled transmitter. Radio astronomical and radiophysical facilities based on the decameter radio telescope URAN-3 were used in these experiments. Three methods were applied in this study: occultation of the disturbed region by radio emission from discrete cosmic sources, scattering of sounding radio waves from the perturbed ionospheric region, and weakly-oblique sounding of the ionosphere. It is shown that the parameters of transmitted, scattered, and reflected signals are well correlated with the parameters of the acoustic radiation, and that the weak ionospheric disturbances detected in our experiments are actually induced by the acoustic radiation. G. V. Karpenko Physico-Mechanical Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Khar'kov, Ukraine. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp. 785–798, August 1999.     

Compact X-ray radiograph based on a plasma gun

The results of the experiments on the formation of a plasma emitter with small spatial dimensions for pulsed radiography in the soft X-ray spectral range are presented. Emitting hot plasma was formed as a result of compression of the plasma jet by a current pulse with amplitude I _m = 215 kA and rise time T _fr = 200 ns. For the jet formation, we used a plasma gun based on the arc discharge (I _m = 8.5 kA and T _fr = 6 μs) initiated by breakdown over the surface of a dielectric in vacuum. The experiments were carried out with aluminum, tin, copper, and iron plasma jets. A single emitter, i.e., point Z-pinch (PZ-pinch), was formed when an interelectrode gap of a high current generator of 1.3–1.5 mm was used. The smallest spatial dimensions of the emitting region were obtained with the use of aluminum and tin. For a tin jet, the diameter of the emitting region was 7 ± 2 μm and its height was 17 ± 2 μm. The emission pulse duration at half-height was 2–3 ns. The total emission yield per pulse in the spectral range 1.56–1.90 keV was 30–50 mJ for the aluminum pinch and 10–30 mJ for the tin pinch. The developed method makes it possible to carry out radiographic examination of microobjects (including biological ones) 1–1000 μm in thickness, with spatial (10–20 μm) and time (2–3 ns) resolution.     

Characteristics of polymer velvet as field emitters under high-current pulsed discharge

In this paper we investigated the surface morphology and emission property of polymer velvet in a cathode test system powered by a ∼400 ns, ∼400 kV pulsed generator. After a series of pulse shots, the velvet surface exhibited an obvious decrease in the amount of emitters, namely, the smoothing of microprotrusions, indicating a lower field enhancement factor or a higher turn-on electric field than that for no shots. As the velvet cathode lifetime proceeded, the beam degradation was observed in terms of the voltage pulse length, maximum emission current, and rise time of diode current. Further, the average current density significantly decreased during a 100 pulse shot test, from 280 to 160 A/cm². The surface discharge caused many plasma spots on the velvet surface. The cathode plasma expands towards the anode, directly leading to the diode gap closure. The degradation in the velvet performance after high-current emission may be related to this behavior of cathode plasma. Finally, the electron emission mechanisms, how to affect the surface morphology of velvet, are presented.     

Tunable high-repetition-rate fiber laser for the generation of pulse trains and packets

We report on a mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser suited to the generation of high-repetition-rate pulse trains or packets. The two-arm interferometer resonator performs a spectral filtering leading to the emission of short pulse packets with a high repetition rate, adjustable up to 200 GHz. A continuous pulse train with a repetition rate of up to 6.9 GHz was obtained by adding a recirculation loop inside the cavity to fill the spaces between all pulse packets.     

Study of acoustic radiation during air stream filtration through a porous medium

The paper presents results of laboratory experiments on studying the characteristics of acoustic emission generated by a flow of compressed air, which is filtered by porous pumice samples with and without partial fluid saturation. The construction features of the laboratory setup and details of the experiments are described. Porous samples with dry and partially fluid-filled pores are used. The visual patterns of the acoustic emission spectrum, which occurs under stationary filtration of the compressed air, are presented, and its amplitude-frequency distribution characteristic for different sample porosities and different degrees of their fluid saturation is shown. It is demonstrated that the relaxation times of the emission noise level differ. This is revealed during the sharp elimination of the drop in pressure from such samples, i.e., in the nonstationary filtration mode.     

Detection of laser induced dielectric breakdown in water using a laser doppler vibrometer

This study is focused on exploring the feasibility of an all-optic surface scanning method in determining the size and position of a submerged, laser generated, optoacoustic (OA) source. The optoacoustic effect in this case was generated when the absorption of a short electromagnetic pulse in matter caused a dielectric breakdown, a plasma emission flash and a subsequent acoustic wave. In the experiment, a laser pulse with λ = 1064 nm and 12 ns pulse length was aimed at a volume of deionized water. When the laser beam was focused by a f = 16 mm lens, a single dielectric breakdown spot occurred. When a f = 40 mm was used several breakdowns in a row were induced. The breakdowns were photographed using a double shutter camera. The acoustic wave generated by the dielectric breakdowns were detected at a point on the water surface using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). First, the LDV signal was used to calculate the speed of sound with an accuracy of 10 m/s. Secondly, the location and length of the dielectric breakdown was calculated with an accuracy of 1 mm. The calculated position matched the breakdown location recorded by a camera. The results show that it is possible to use LDV surface measurements from a single spot to determine both the position and length of the OA source as well as the speed of sound in the medium. Furthermore, the LDV measurements also show a secondary peak that originates from the OA source. To unravel the origin and properties of this interesting feature, further investigations are necessary     

Fatigue behaviour and structural health monitoring by acoustic emission of E-glass/epoxy laminates with piezoelectric implant

This paper represents the continuation of our research on built-in piezoelectric sensor for structural health monitoring of composite materials. Experimental research is focused on examining the effects of the embedded sensors on the structural integrity of composite laminates subjected to mechanical tests. A series of composite specimens with and without embedded sensor are tested in fatigue loading while constantly monitoring the response by acoustic emission technique. The acoustic signals are analysed using the classification k-means method in order to identify the different damage mechanisms and to follow the evolution of these mechanisms for both types of composite materials (with and without sensor). The mechanical behaviour of composites with and without embedded sensor shows no difference in the form. The incorporation of piezoelectric sensor causes low degradation of mechanical properties of composites. Comparing embedded sensor to sensor mounted on the surface, the embedded sensor showed a much higher sensitivity. It is thus verified that the embedded acoustic emission sensor had great potential for acoustic emission monitoring in fibre reinforced composite structures.     

Laser detection of elastic waves diffraction by the crack’s edge

Diffraction effects and features of acoustic wave propagation in elastic media with the surface-breaking microcrack were investigated in detail for the pulse probing signals. The crack’s plane was oriented along the direction of longitudinal ultrasonic wave incidence in such a way that the detection of the crack with such an unfavorable spatial location was difficult by means of traditional acoustic techniques. Using laser Doppler interferometer a set of instantaneous pictures of acoustic field on the specimen’s surface, corresponding to the different moments of time was obtained. This allowed us to investigate and visualize the diffraction effects of acoustic field in dynamics. Using numerical modeling of diffraction processes of acoustic waves on the crack’s edge and top for pulse signals the origin of V-like structures on the snapshots of acoustic fields was explained and analyzed.