Experimental investigation of the travel-time variance of an acoustic wave propagating through the grid-generated turbulence

An experimental technique for the investigation of the behaviour of acoustic wave propagation through a turbulent medium is discussed. The present study utilizes the ultrasonic travel-time technique to diagnose a grid-generated turbulence. Travel-time variance is studied versus mean flow velocity, travel distance and outer turbulence scale. The effect of thermal fluctuations, which result in fluctuations of sound speed, is studied using a heated-grid experiment. Experimental data obtained using ultrasonic technique confirm numerical and theoretical predictions of nonlinear increase of the travel-time variance with propagation distance, which could be connected to the occurrence of caustics. The effect of turbulent intensity on the travel-time variance and appearance of caustics is studied. It is demonstrated experimentally that the higher turbulence intensity leads to the shorter distance, at which the first caustic occurs. The probability density for caustics appearance is analysed against the measured wave amplitude fluctuations. The analysis reveals that the region of high-amplitude fluctuations corresponds to the region where the probability of formation of random caustics differs from zero. Experimental results are in very good agreement with theoretical and numerical predictions.     

Statistical properties of nonlinear diffracting <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-wave behind a random phase screen

Propagation of high amplitude N-wave behind a random phase screen is modeled based on the Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov equation. One-dimensional random phase screens with Gaussian power spectrum density are considered. The effects of nonlinear propagation, random focusing, and diffraction on the statistical properties of the acoustic field behind the screen, including propagation through caustics and beyond caustics, are analyzed. Statistical distributions and mean values of the acoustic field parameters obtained within the developed diffraction model and using nonlinear geometrical acoustics approach are compared.     

Ray theory for a locally layered random medium

We consider acoustic pulse propagation in inhomogeneous media over relatively long propagation distances. Our main objective is to characterize the spreading of the travelling pulse due to microscale variations in the medium parameters. The pulse is generated by a point source and the medium is modelled by a smooth three-dimensional background that is modulated by stratified random fluctuations. We refer to such media as locally layered .

We show that, when the pulse is observed relative to its random arrival time, it stabilizes to a shape determined by the slowly varying background convolved with a Gaussian. The width of the Gaussian and the random travel time are determined by the medium parameters along the ray connecting the source and the point of observation. The ray is determined by high-frequency asymptotics (geometrical optics). If we observe the pulse in a deterministic frame moving with the effective slowness , it does not stabilize and its mean is broader because of the random component of the travel time. The analysis of this phenomenon involves the asymptotic solution of partial differential equations with randomly varying coefficients and is based on a new representation of the field in terms of generalized plane waves that travel in opposite directions relative to the layering.     

Extended acoustic waves in diluted random systems

In this paper we study the propagation of acoustic waves in an one-dimensional diluted random media which is composed of two interpenetrating chains with pure and random elasticity. We considered a discrete one-dimensional version of the wave equation where the elasticity distribution appears as an effective spring constant. By using a matrix recursive reformulation we compute the localization length within the band of allowed frequencies. In addition, we apply a second-order finite difference method for both time and spatial variables, and study the nature of the waves that propagate in the chain. We numerically demonstrate that the diluted random elasticity distribution promotes extended acoustic modes at high-frequencies.     

Comparison between ocean-acoustic fluctuations in parabolic-equation simulations and estimates from integral approximations

Line-integral approximations to the acoustic path integral have been used to estimate the magnitude of the fluctuations in an acoustic signal traveling through an ocean filled with internal waves. These approximations for the root-mean-square (rms) fluctuation and the bias of travel time, rms fluctuation in a vertical arrival angle, and the spreading of the acoustic pulse are compared here to estimates from simulations that use the parabolic equation (PE). PE propagations at 250 Hz with a maximum range of 1000 km were performed. The model environment consisted of one of two sound-speed profiles perturbed by internal waves conforming to the Garrett-Munk (GM) spectral model with strengths of 0.5, 1, and 2 times the GM reference energy level. Integral-approximation (IA) estimates of rms travel-time fluctuations were within statistical uncertainty at 1000 km for the SLICE89 profile, and in disagreement by between 20% and 60% for the Canonical profile. Bias estimates were accurate for the first few hundred kilometers of propagation, but became a strong function of time front ID beyond, with some agreeing with the PE results and others very much larger. The IA structure functions of travel time with depth are predicted to be quadratic with the form theta(2)vc0(-2)deltaz(2), where deltaz is vertical separation, c0 is a reference sound speed, and thetav is the rms fluctuation in an arrival angle. At 1000 km, the PE results were close to quadratic at small deltaz, with values of thetav in disagreement with those of the integral approximation by factors of order 2. Pulse spreads in the PE results were much smaller than predicted by the IA estimates. Results imply that acoustic tomography of internal waves at ranges up to 1000 km can use the IA estimate of travel-time variance with reasonable reliability.     

Travel-time statistics for signals scattered at a rough surface

Abstract

The travel time of signals reflected or refracted by a rough surface is investigated in the geometrical optics approximation. It is shown that surface roughness typically decreases the mean travel time in the case of large-scale roughness, when only one specularly reflecting point moves randomly around its unperturbed position, resulting in a negative travel-time bias (toward early echoes). In the opposite limiting case of multipath propagation, when many specular points exist on a random surface, the travel-time bias is always positive. General results are illustrated by two examples related to ocean remote sensing which involve sound scattering from the ocean surface and bottom.     

Propagation of Gaussian beams through parabolic index optical waveguides with random dielectric constant gradient

The propagation of gaussian beams through parabolic index optical waveguides having random irregularities in the dielectric constant gradient has been studied. For fundamental mode propagation, the perturbation approach has been employed and an analytic expression for the loss of power from the fundamental mode has been obtained. For an incident gaussian beam with arbitrary width, geometrical optics approximation has been used and an exact analytical expression for the average value of the beamwidth has been derived for a particular random process, namely, the dichotomic Markov process. The fluctuations in the beamwidth have also been calculated.     

Acoustic wavefront imaging

We introduce a new class of experiments which provide graphic insights into the propagation of acoustic waves in anisotropic media. Simply stated, we have devised a means of observing the expanding acoustic wavefront from a point disturbance in a solid. The data may be viewed as a movie or a series of snapshots. The observed wavefronts represent the group-velocity surfaces of acoustic waves, which reflect the basic elastic anisotropy of the solid. The technique has been applied to coherent acoustic waves with frequencies in the megahertz range (at ambient temperatures) and to incoherent heat pulses in the hundred-gigahertz range (at liquid-helium temperatures). In this article, we first provide a pedagogical introduction to wave propagation in elastically anisotropic media, reviewing some early methods for visualizing acoustic waves. Next, we describe the “acoustic wavefront imaging” method and give representative results in crystals and composite materials. Finally, we show how this method relates to recent advances in phonon imaging and internal diffraction of ultrasound.     

Propagation of Gaussian beams through parabolic index optical waveguides with random dielectric constant gradient

Abstract

The propagation of gaussian beams through parabolic index optical waveguides having random irregularities in the dielectric constant gradient has been studied. For fundamental mode propagation, the perturbation approach has been employed and an analytic expression for the loss of power from the fundamental mode has been obtained. For an incident gaussian beam with arbitrary width, geometrical optics approximation has been used and an exact analytical expression for the average value of the beamwidth has been derived for a particular random process, namely, the dichotomic Markov process. The fluctuations in the beamwidth have also been calculated.     

Geometrical interpretation of acoustic holography: Adaptation of the propagator and minimum quality guaranteed in the presence of errors

A large number of inverse problems in acoustics consist of a reverse propagation of the acoustic pressure measured with an array of microphones. The goal is usually to identify the acoustic source location and strength or the surface velocity of a vibrating structure. The quality of the results obtained depends on the propagation model, on the accuracy of the pressure measurements and, finally, on the inverse problem conditioning. How to quantify this quality is the issue addressed in this paper. For this purpose, a geometrical interpretation of the inverse acoustic problem is proposed. The main application will, eventually, be near-field acoustic holography (NAH), but it is expected that the proposed approach will also apply to other types of inverse acoustic problems. First, the geometrical representation of the inverse problem is proposed. The inverse problem is stated from a direct linear problem in the frequency domain. For each frequency, an overdetermined system of linear complex algebraic equations must be inverted. The concept of quality is discussed and a quality index is proposed based upon the residue of the inverse problem, solved in a mean square sense. Then, a simple one-dimensional (plane wave) acoustic example consisting of a source and two pressure measurements is used to illustrate the proposed geometrical representation of the inverse problem and the quality criterion inspired by it. In the simple example, the propagation model can be improved by searching for a reflection coefficient at the origin of the simulated hologram. This reflection coefficient is used to simulate the presence of a hidden source placed behind the source. An artificial attenuation is introduced to simulate the effect of geometrical attenuation present in real NAH problems. Again, using the geometrical representation, it is shown how, from an improved propagation model together with a given measurement noise level in the hologram, one can guarantee a certain quality level of the inverse procedure. Finally, numerical results show, in a preliminary way, how the identified source strength converges towards the exact velocity when the estimated propagation model tends to the exact propagation model.     

Wave propagation in heterogeneous bistable and excitable media

Two examples for the propagation of traveling waves in spatially non-uniform media are studied: (a) bistable media with periodically varying excitation threshold and (b) bistable and excitable media with randomly distributed diffusion coefficient and excitation properties. In case (a), we have applied two different singular perturbation techniques, namely averaging (first and second order) and a projection method, to calculate the averaged front velocity as a function of the spatial period L of the heterogeneity for the Schlögl model. Our analysis reveals a velocity overshoot for small values of L and propagation failure for large values of L. The analytical predictions are in good agreement with results of direct numerical simulations. For case (b), effective medium properties are derived by a self-consistent homogenization approach. In particular, the resulting velocities found by direct numerical simulations of the random medium are reproduced well as long as the diffusion lengths in the medium are larger than the heterogeneity scale. Simulations reveal also that complex irregular dynamics can be triggered by heterogeneities.     

Parabolic equation for nonlinear acoustic wave propagation in inhomogeneous moving media

A new parabolic equation is derived to describe the propagation of nonlinear sound waves in inhomogeneous moving media. The equation accounts for diffraction, nonlinearity, absorption, scalar inhomogeneities (density and sound speed), and vectorial inhomogeneities (flow). A numerical algorithm employed earlier to solve the KZK equation is adapted to this more general case. A two-dimensional version of the algorithm is used to investigate the propagation of nonlinear periodic waves in media with random inhomogeneities. For the case of scalar inhomogeneities, including the case of a flow parallel to the wave propagation direction, a complex acoustic field structure with multiple caustics is obtained. Inclusion of the transverse component of vectorial random inhomogeneities has little effect on the acoustic field. However, when a uniform transverse flow is present, the field structure is shifted without changing its morphology. The impact of nonlinearity is twofold: it produces strong shock waves in focal regions, while, outside the caustics, it produces higher harmonics without any shocks. When the intensity is averaged across the beam propagating through a random medium, it evolves similarly to the intensity of a plane nonlinear wave, indicating that the transverse redistribution of acoustic energy gives no considerable contribution to nonlinear absorption. Published in Russian in Akusticheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2006, Vol. 52, No. 6, pp. 725–735. This article was translated by the authors.     

Diffusive Wave Spectroscopy of a random close packing of spheres

We are interested in the propagation of light in a random packing of dielectric spheres within the geometrical optics approximation. Numerical simulations are performed using a ray tracing algorithm. The effective refractive indexes and the transport mean free path are computed for different refractive indexes of spheres and intersticial media. The variations of the optical path length under small deformations of the spheres assembly are also computed and compared to the results of Diffusive Wave Spectroscopy experiments. Finally, we propose a measure of the transport mean free path and a Diffusive Wave Spectroscopy experiment on a packing of glass spheres. The results of those experiments agree with the predictions of this ray tracing approach.     

Elastic waves in noncohesive frictionless granular crystals

An ordered structure of noncohesive spherical beads constitutes a phononic crystal. This type of media combines the properties of wave propagation in phononic crystals (dispersion due to the geometrical periodicity) with the properties of wave propagation in granular media (nonlinearities, rotational degree of freedom) and gives the opportunity to have interesting features as tunable frequency band gaps for example.In this work, the acoustic bulk modes of a hexagonal close packed (hcp) structure of beads, considered as rigid masses connected by springs, are theoretically evaluated and their associated resonance frequencies are compared to experimental results. When friction is neglected, the elastic interaction between the beads are reduced to a normal spring interaction given by the Hertz theory. According to this theory, the rigidity of the contact depends on its static loading. The theory predicts the existence of elastic transverse and longitudinal acoustical-type modes and transverse and longitudinal optical-type modes.The acoustic transfer function of a hcp crystal slab built with stainless steel beads is measured and its resonance frequencies are compared to the theoretical predictions. Despite some differences between theory and experiments, which could come for instance from the disordered character of the contact loads, the developed theory and the experimental results show relatively good agreement.     

Estimating statistical parameters of an elastic random medium from traveltime fluctuations of refracted waves

Traveltime fluctuations of diving-type refracted waves are studied in the framework of geometrical optics in order to estimate the statistical parameters of an elastic random medium. A stratified background medium is considered in which the velocity increases linearly with depth. Smooth and strongly anisomeric (statistically anisotropic) inhomogeneities are embedded in this medium. The covariance and the variance of traveltime fluctuations are derived and subsequently used to estimate the standard deviation of the medium fluctuations and the inhomogeneity scale lengths in horizontal and vertical directions. The theoretical estimation procedure is verified by performing numerical calculations and it is observed that, under the considered conditions, the traveltime variance decreases at large offsets. This new phenomenon has not been observed before either in acoustics and optics, or in radio wave propagation.     

Reflection and transmission of acoustic waves on multilayered porous media

Based on the Boit theory of acoustic wave propagation in fluid-satu-rated porous medium we have studied in this paper the acoustic reflection andtransmission on multilayered porous media,in which the adequate boundaryconditions across the interfaces are taken into account.Numerical calculationsof the reflection and transmission coefficients at different incident angles andfrequencies of the fast compressional wave incident on porous media with threeor four layers are presented.The results indicate that the maximum or mini-mum reflection and transmission coefficients appear at certain ratios of thewavelength to the thickness.The acoustic incident angle and porous mediumproperties are shown to affect significantly these coefficients.As an example,the measured transmission coefficients in a water-saturated fused glass beadsample are in good agreement with theoretical prediction.     

Localization of electromagnetic and acoustic waves in random media. Lattice models

We consider lattice versions of Maxwell's equations and of the equation that governs the propagation of acoustic waves in a random medium. The vector nature of electromagnetic waves is fully taken into account. The medium is assumed to be a small perturbation of a periodic one. We prove rigorously that localized eigenstates arise in a vicinity of the edges of the gaps in the spectrum. A key ingredient is a new Wegner-type estimate for a class of lattice operators with off-diagonal disorder.     

Statistical characteristics of a wave propagating through a layer with random irregularities

Statistical characteristics of a wave propagating through a layer with random irregularities are investigated by a simulation procedure. The investigation is carried out within the geometrical optics approximation in its validity range. It is shown that when the irregular layer is a long distance from the source and observer, a significant role in the formation of eikonal (phase path) fluctuations is then played by trajectory fluctuations in regions of the propagation medium, free from irregularities before and after the irregular layer. With these variations taken into account, which are neglected in conventional perturbation theory, we obtained approximate expressions for the dispersion and the correlation function of the eikonal. We investigate the behaviour of the eikonal dispersions, the angles and correlation functions of the eikonal and field for different disturbances of the medium, and for different distances of the receiver and transmitter from the layer boundaries.     

Separation of acoustic waves in isentropic flow perturbations

The present contribution investigates the mechanisms of sound generation and propagation in the case of highly-unsteady flows. Based on the linearisation of the isentropic Navier-Stokes equation around a new pathline-averaged base flow, it is demonstrated for the first time that flow perturbations of a non-uniform flow can be split into acoustic and vorticity modes, with the acoustic modes being independent of the vorticity modes. Therefore, we can propose this acoustic perturbation as a general definition of sound.