Acoustic focusing through two layer annuluses in air

We report an acoustic focusing lens composed of two-layer annuluses made of metal cylinders in air. We find that the cylindrical waves can be focused into a perfect point without diffraction in the centre of the annuluses, which arises from the Mie-resonance modes in the annuluses. The focusing frequencies are related to the size of the inner annulus, and the focusing effect can be applied to the annuluses with different shapes and incident positions. Interesting applications of the focusing lens in the acoustic beam splitter and directional transmitter with energy enhancement are further discussed.     

Array gain for a conformal acoustic vector sensor array:An experimental study

An acoustic vector sensor can measure the components of particle velocity and the acoustic pressure at the same point simultaneously, which provides a larger array gain against the ambient noise and a higher angular resolution than the omnidirectional pressure sensor. This paper presents an experimental study of array gain for a conformal acoustic vector sensor array in a practical environment. First, the manifold vector is calculated using the real measured data so that the effects of array mismatches can be minimized. Second, an optimal beamformer with a specific spatial response on the basis of the stable directivity of the ambient noise is designed, which can effectively suppress the ambient noise.Experimental results show that this beamformer for the conformal acoustic vector sensor array provides good signal-tonoise ratio enhancement and is more advantageous than the delay-and-sum and minimum variance distortionless response beamformers.     

Design and analysis of a BLPC vocoder-based adaptive feedback cancellation with probe noise

The band-limited linear predictive coding (BLPC) vocoder-based adaptive feedback cancellation (AFC) removes the high-frequency bias, while the low frequency bias persists between the desired input signal and the loudspeaker signal in the estimate of the feedback path. In this paper, we present a BLPC vocoder-based adaptive feedback canceller with probe noise with an objective of reducing the low-frequency bias in digital hearing-aids. A step-wise mathematical analysis of the proposed feedback canceller is presented employing the recursive least square and normalized least mean square adaptive algorithms. It is observed that the optimal solution of the feedback path is unbiased for an unshaped probe noise, but is biased for a shaped probe signal; the bias term does not consist of correlation between the desired input and the loudspeaker output. The identifiability conditions are analysed and it is shown that a delay, greater than or equal to the length of the adaptive filter, must be introduced in the forward path to achieve an unbiased feedback path estimate. Algorithm analysis and computer simulations presented in this paper justify the reason for selecting the proposed design over the existing BLPC vocoder-based feedback cancellation algorithm.     

Spectrum efficient power allocation schemes for OFDM cognitive radio with statistical interference constraints

In this paper, we study the power allocation problem for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based cognitive radio (CR) system. In a departure from the conventional power allocation schemes available in the literature for OFDM-based CR, we propose power allocation schemes that are augmented with spectral shaping. Active interference cancellation (AIC) is an effective spectral shaping technique for OFDM-based systems. Therefore, in particular, we propose AIC-based optimal and suboptimal power allocation schemes that aim to maximize the downlink transmission capacity of an OFDM-based CR system operating opportunistically within the licensed primary users (PUs) radio spectrum in an overlay approach. Since the CR transmitter may not have the perfect knowledge about the instantaneous channel quality between itself and the active PUs, the interference constraints imposed by each of the PUs are met in a statistical sense. We also study an optimal power allocation scheme that is augmented with raised cosine (RC) windowing-based spectral shaping. For a given power budget at the CR transmitter and the prescribed statistical interference constraints by the PUs, we demonstrate that although the on-the-run computational complexity of the proposed AIC-based optimal power allocation scheme is relatively higher, it may yield better transmission rate for the CR user compared to the RC windowing-based power allocation scheme. Further, the AIC-based suboptimal scheme has the least on-the-run computational complexity, and still may deliver performance that is comparable to that of the RC windowing-based power allocation scheme. The presented simulation results also show that both the AIC-based as well as the RC windowing-based power allocation schemes lead to significantly higher transmission rates for the CR user compared to the conventional (without any spectral shaping) optimal power allocation scheme.     

Primary Bjerknes force in a three-dimensional nonlinear resonator: Numerical simulations

The effect of the primary Bjerknes force caused by a three-dimensional nonlinear standing ultrasonic wave on a population of nonlinear oscillating bubbles is studied in this paper by analyzing the results obtained from simulations performed with a numerical model at low and moderate pressure amplitudes. Small air bubbles are evenly distributed in a water filled cavity excited at resonance for which axial symmetry is assumed. Both the bubble oscillation variable and the pressure variable are unknown in the nonlinear set of coupled differential equations that describes the interaction of ultrasound and bubbles. Simulation results show that the three-dimensional primary Bjerknes force field is strongly amplitude dependent. We also analyze whether taking the term in the differential system that defines the nonlinear behavior of the pressure field into account is determinant or not on the computation of the force field. The corresponding results corroborate the one-dimensional conclusions on the fundamental importance of considering this nonlinear acoustic term to obtain an accurate approximation of the force in a cavity.     

韧性金属Kaiser效应方向独立性的实验研究

Kaiser效应是声发射技术实际应用的理论基础。本文以韧性金属材料Q345不同方向拉伸实验为例,探究力的方向对韧性金属Kaiser效应的影响。实验结果表明,韧性金属材料在某一方向加载时,表现出了Kaiser效应;当改变加载方向时,呈现出与第一次加载方向类似的声发射特性,说明声发射现象对其他加载方向上所承受的最大载荷不具有记忆的能力,而仅与该方向承载历史有关,即韧性金属Kaiser效应与力的方向性间具有独立性。同时,利用细观损伤理论对这一现象产生的机理进行了定性的解释。     

闪长岩单轴加载过程中声发射和弹性波速度变化规律的研究

为研究闪长岩在单轴加载过程中的声发射和各向波速变化规律,在单轴阶段加载和循环阶段加载条件下,对闪长岩岩样破裂过程中的声发射累计数、不同应力水平不同方向的波速、切线模量、轴向应变速率进行了研究。实验结果表明:(1)随着应力水平的增高,声发射事件数不断增加,在高应力水平(约80%峰值强度)时,声发射累计数急剧增多,随后切线模量出现震荡变化。(2)在加载过程中,压密程度及裂纹扩展方向对波速产生了巨大的影响,导致不同方向波速在不同的应力水平呈现出不同的变化规律,由此可以推测破裂面位置和破裂模式。在较高应力水平下(约60%峰值强度),平行于加载方向的波速趋于稳定,而垂直于加载方向的波速则持续下降,故用垂直于加载方向传播的波速预测岩石的破坏更具可靠性。(3)随着应力的增加,应变速率有逐渐减小的趋势,但临近岩石破裂时无异常变化出现,说明利用变形观测难以预测此类岩石的破坏。以上研究表明,根据纵波波速、声发射累计数和切线模量的变化可以有效预测岩石的破坏。     

纸页受力微损伤演化过程的声发射及多元统计特征

纸页受载后的损伤断裂行为涉及其使用性能,对其损伤断裂过程的研究不仅有助于揭示纸页破坏行为的物理本质,而且有助于对纸页质量及其生产、加工工艺作出更加科学合理的评定。本文基于声发射(Acoustic Emission,AE)实验研究纸页内部微损伤演化过程,给出了评估纸页宏观损伤断裂性能的定量描述方法。首先,根据AE信号与微损伤事件之间存在本质上的关联性,通过采集和观测纸页试样受载过程中的AE信号来研究纸页损伤断裂的基本特征;其次,针对所采集AE信号的数据量大、蕴含信息丰富导致数据分析和处理困难的特点,本文采用多元随机变量的分析方法。利用概率熵和Andrews曲线法等统计分析手段对AE数据展开研究分析,并最终利用一条损伤状态轨迹曲线实现了对纸页微损伤演化过程的完整宏观描述。结果表明,纸页微损伤演化过程呈现明显阶段性变化特征;Andrews曲线的聚类结果有效地区分了不同损伤阶段的相似性和差异性,同时,不同损伤阶段中纸样的微观形貌观测提供了实验性的证据。本文以一种典型的牛皮箱板纸为试件,验证了上述方法的有效性。     

基于声学超材料的低频可调吸收器

在当今社会,噪声污染已经成为人类健康的一大威胁,如何有效地控制和消除噪声污染一直是科研领域的一个重要话题.本文以开口环嵌套结构为模型,设计并制备了一种声学超材料.通过理论分析、数值模拟和实验测试,发现由于模型内部空腔的强烈耦合共振效应,该超材料可以在低频区域实现接近完美的吸声效应.此外,通过简单地绕轴旋转其内腔开口方向,即可改变该超材料的相对阻抗值,进而在较宽的频带范围内实现对吸收峰位置的可调控制.由于该超材料具有深亚波长的尺寸,因此非常有利于低频吸声器件的小型化和集成化,同时该模型也为宽带吸收器的设计奠定了基础.     

Polarized Debye Sheath in Degenerate Plasmas

The force on a charged dust grain in a plasma due to polarization of thermal ions and degenerate electrons around the grain is derived in the limits of weakly relativistic and ultra-relativistic degeneracy of electrons. It is found that in both these cases, the magnitude of the polarization force is enhanced compared to that in classical plasmas. The influence of this force on dust-acoustic(DA) modes is examined and discussed. It is shown that the DA wave frequency in degenerate plasmas is significantly reduced compared to the classical DA mode.