Scattering of acoustic waves by elastic and viscoelastic obstacles immersed in a fluid

A scattering or T-matrix approach is presented for studying the scattering of acoustic waves by elastic and viscoelastic obstacles immersed in a fluid. A Kelvin-Voigt model is used to obtain the complex elastic moduli of the viscoelastic solid. The T-matris formulation is somewhat complicated because the wave equations and fields are quite different in the solid and fluid regions and are coupled by continuity conditions at the interface. We have obtained fairly extensive numerical results for prolate and oblate spheroids for a variety of scattering geometries. The backscattering, bistatic, absorption and extinction cross-section are presented as a function of the frequency of the incident wave.     

Modeling the film casting process using a continuum model for crystallization in polymers

In this paper, the film casting process has been simulated using a new model developed recently using the framework of multiple natural configurations to study crystallization in polymers (see Rao and Rajagopal Z. Angew. Math. Phys. 53 (2002) 265; Polym. Eng. Sci. 44(1) (2004) 123; Simulation of the film blowing process for semicrystalline polymers, in press, 2004). In the film casting process, the material starts out as a viscoelastic melt and undergoes deformation and cooling, resulting in a semi-crystalline solid. In order to model the complex changes taking place in the material and predict the behavior of the final solid it is important to use models that are capable of describing these changes. The model used here has been formulated within a general thermodynamic framework that is capable of describing dissipative processes. In addition it handles in a direct manner the change of symmetry in the material; it thus provides a good basis for studying the crystallization process in polymers. The polymer melt is modeled as a rate type viscoelastic fluid and the crystalline solid polymer is modeled as an anisotropic elastic solid. The initiation criterion, marking the onset of crystallization and equations governing the crystallization kinetics arise naturally in this setting in terms of the appropriate thermodynamic functions. The mixture region, wherein the material transitions from a melt to a semi-crystalline solid, is modeled as a mixture of a viscoelastic fluid and an elastic solid. This is in marked contrast to earlier approaches where in the simulation has been done assuming that the material was a viscous fluid and the transition to a solid like behavior is achieved by increasing the viscosity to a large value resulting in a highly viscous fluid and not an elastic solid. The results of our simulations compare well against experimental data available in literature. In addition to these quantitative comparisons have carried out parametric study to study the influence of the different parameters on the film casting process.     

Acoustic scattering from baffled membranes that are backed by elastic cavities

An elastic membrane backed by a fluid-filled cavity in an elastic body is set into an infinite plane baffle. A time harmonic wave propagating in the acoustic fluid in the upper half-space is incident on the plane. It is assumed that the densities of this fluid and the fluid inside the cavity are small compared with the densities of the membrane and of the elastic walls of the cavity, thus defining a small parameter . Asymptotic expansions of the solution of this scattering problem as →0, that are uniform in the wave number k of the incident wave, are obtained using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. When the frequency of the incident wave is bounded away from the resonant frequencies of the membrane, the cavity fluid, and the elastic body, the resultant wave is a small perturbation (the “outer expansion”) of the specularly reflected wave from a completely rigid plane. However, when the incident wave frequency is near a resonant frequency (the “inner expansion”) then the scattered wave results from the interaction of the acoustic fluid with the membrane, the membrane with the cavity fluid, and finally the cavity fluid with the elastic body, and the resulting scattered field may be “large”. The cavity backed membrane (CBM) was previously analyzed for a rigid cavity wall. In this paper, we study the effects of the elastic cavity walls on modifying the response of the CBM. For incident frequencies near the membrane resonant frequencies, the elasticity of the cavity gives only a higher order (in ) correction to the scattered field. However, near a cavity fluid resonant frequency, and, of course, near an elastic body resonant frequency the elasticity contributes to the scattered field. The method is applied to the two dimensional problem of an infinite strip membrane backed by an infinitely long rectangular cavity. The cavity is formed by two infinitely long rectangular elastic solids. We speculate on the possible significance of the results with respect to viscoelastic membranes and viscoelastic instead of elastic cavity walls for surface sound absorbers.     

Forced oscillations of a layer of a viscoelastic material under the action of a convective pressure wave

The longitudinal and transverse components of deformation of the surface of a flat layer of a viscoelastic material glued onto a solid base under the action of a traveling pressure wave are determined. The coating compliance is described by two components corresponding to two components of surface displacement. The dimensionless compliance components depend only on the viscoelastic properties of the material, the ratio of the wave length to the layer thickness λ/H, and the ratio of the wave velocity to the velocity of propagation of shear oscillations V/C _t ⁰ . Data on the dynamic compliance are presented for 0.3 < λ/H < 30 and 0.1 < V/C _t ⁰ < 10. The compliance is demonstrated to be determined by its absolute value and by the phase lag of strain from pressure. The effect of viscous losses in the material and compressibility of the latter on the dynamic compliance is analyzed. An anomalous behavior of the compliance with the wave velocity being greater than a certain critical value is explained. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 90–97, March–April, 2007.     

Flow of a mixture of a viscous fluid and a granular solid in an orthogonal rheometer

In this paper, we study the flow of a linearly viscous fluid and a granular solid, consisting of many particles, situated between two parallel plates rotating about different axes. Flow in orthogonal rheometers has been studied for many viscoelastic fluids so that their rheological properties can be measured. The mixture is modeled using the theory of interacting continua, and constitutive relations for the fluid phase, the granular phase, and the interaction forces are provided. For a very special case, an analytical solution to the equations of motion is also provided.     

Averaging the acoustics equations for a viscoelastic material with channels filled with a viscous compressible fluid

A mathematical model describing small oscillations of a combined medium consisting of an ɛ-periodic porous viscoelastic material and a viscous compressible fluid filling the pores is considered. For this model an effective averaged model is developed and the convergence of the solutions of prelimiting problems, as ɛ → 0, to the solution of the averaged problem in the L ² space norm is proved.     

Convective Instability of Oldroyd-B Fluid Saturated Porous Layer Heated from Below using a Thermal Non-equilibrium Model

The linear stability of a viscoelastic fluid saturated densely packed horizontal porous layer heated from below and cooled from above is investigated by considering the Oldroyd-B type fluid. A generalized Darcy model, which takes into account the viscoelastic properties, is employed as momentum equation and a two-field model is used for energy equation each representing solid and fluid phases separately. Linear stability analysis suggests that, there is a competition between the processes of viscous relaxation and thermal diffusion that causes the first convective instability to be oscillatory rather than stationary. Analytical expression for the occurrence of oscillatory onset is obtained, and it is found that the necessary condition for the existence of the same is Λ < 1. Besides, the effect of viscoelastic parameters and the thermal non-equilibrium on the stability of the system is analyzed.     

Radiation and scattering of sound from a vortex ring

The mechanisms of generation and scattering of sound by a vortex ring are investigated on the basis of fluid dynamics. The vortex ring can serve as a simple dynamic model of the large-scale structures observed in shear flows. Moreover, it is probably the most easily studied vortex element that can be created experimentally. The sound scattering investigation also served to determine the extent to which the vortex is affected by sound, its selectivity with respect to such parameters as the acoustic frequency, the angle of incidence of the wave, etc. The perturbed motion is considered against the background of the steady-state motion of the ring. The perturbed motion in the vortex core is determined on the basis of linear incompressible fluid dynamics. Two terms of the expansion in the M number of the far acoustic field generated by the perturbations in the core are found in accordance with Lighthill's theory. The acoustic power and directivity of the radiation and the acoustic instability growth rate are calculated. It is shown that the scattering of sound by the vortex ring is a resonance effect, and the scattering amplitude near resonance is determined. The acoustic action on the hydrodynamic structure of the flow in the core of the ring is especially intense near the resonances and extends over a period short as compared with the characteristic time of the acoustic instability.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 83–95, May–June, 1987.     

Shear wave dispersion and attenuation in periodic systems of alternating solid and viscous fluid layers

The attenuation and dispersion of elastic waves in fluid-saturated rocks due to the viscosity of the pore fluid is investigated using an idealized exactly solvable example of a system of alternating solid and viscous fluid layers. Waves in periodic layered systems at low frequencies are studied using an asymptotic analysis of Rytov’s exact dispersion equations. Since the wavelength of shear waves in fluids (viscous skin depth) is much smaller than the wavelength of shear or compressional waves in solids, the presence of viscous fluid layers necessitates the inclusion of higher terms in the long-wavelength asymptotic expansion. This expansion allows for the derivation of explicit analytical expressions for the attenuation and dispersion of shear waves, with the directions of propagation and of particle motion being in the bedding plane. The attenuation (dispersion) is controlled by the parameter which represents the ratio of Biot’s characteristic frequency to the viscoelastic characteristic frequency. If Biot’s characteristic frequency is small compared with the viscoelastic characteristic frequency, the solution is identical to that derived from an anisotropic version of the Frenkel–Biot theory of poroelasticity. In the opposite case when Biot’s characteristic frequency is greater than the viscoelastic characteristic frequency, the attenuation/dispersion is dominated by the classical viscoelastic absorption due to the shear stiffening effect of the viscous fluid layers. The product of these two characteristic frequencies is equal to the squared resonant frequency of the layered system, times a dimensionless proportionality constant of the order 1. This explains why the visco-elastic and poroelastic mechanisms are usually treated separately in the context of macroscopic (effective medium) theories, as these theories imply that frequency is small compared to the resonant (scattering) frequency of individual pores.     

Shear-wave resonances in a fluid–solid–solid layered structure

An inhomogeneous solid layer is bounded on one side by a fluid half-space and on the other by a homogeneous solid half-space. An acoustic wave in the fluid is incident on the layer. Experiments suggest that some kind of shear-wave resonance of the layer exists. Here, the layer is modeled with exponential variations of the material properties (Epstein model). Solutions in terms of hypergeometric functions are found. Genuine resonances are found but only when the layer is not bonded to the solid half-space; these are analogous to Jones frequencies in fluid–solid interaction problems. When the solid half-space is present, the resonances become complex: they are scattering frequencies. Simple but accurate asymptotic approximations are found using known estimates for hypergeometric functions with large parameters.     

Flow in a Porous Matrix with Anisotropic Structure

The flow of a viscous fluid through a porous matrix undergoing only infinitesimal deformation is described in terms of intrinsic variables, namely, the density, velocity and stress occurring in coherent elements of each material. This formulation arises naturally when macroscopic interfaces are conceptually partitioned into area fractions of fluid–fluid, fluid–solid, and solid–solid contact. Such theory has been shown to yield consistent jump conditions of mass, momentum and energy across discontinuities, either internal or an external boundary, unlike the standard mixture theory jump conditions. In the previous formulation, the matrix structure has been considered isotropic; that is, the area fractions are independent of the interface orientation. Here, that is not assumed, so in particular, the cross-section area of a continuous fluid tube depends on its orientation, which influences the directional fluxes, and in turn the directional permeability, anisotropy of the structure. The simplifications for slow viscous flow are examined, and particularly for an isotropic linearly elastic matrix in which area partitioning induces anisotropic elastic response of the mixture. A final specialization to an incompressible fluid and stationary matrix leads to potential flow, and a simple plane flow solution is presented to illustrate the effects of anisotropic permeability.     

Fluid flow of incompressible viscous fluid through a non-linear elastic tube

The study of viscous flow in tubes with deformable walls is of specific interest in industry and biomedical technology and in understanding various phenomena in medicine and biology (atherosclerosis, artery replacement by a graft, etc) as well. The present work describes numerically the behavior of a viscous incompressible fluid through a tube with a non-linear elastic membrane insertion. The membrane insertion in the solid tube is composed by non-linear elastic material, following Fung’s (Biomechanics: mechanical properties of living tissue, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, 1993) type strain–energy density function. The fluid is described through a Navier–Stokes code coupled with a system of non linear equations, governing the interaction with the membrane deformation. The objective of this work is the study of the deformation of a non-linear elastic membrane insertion interacting with the fluid flow. The case of the linear elastic material of the membrane is also considered. These two cases are compared and the results are evaluated. The advantages of considering membrane nonlinear elastic material are well established. Finally, the case of an axisymmetric elastic tube with variable stiffness along the tube and membrane sections is studied, trying to substitute the solid tube with a membrane of high stiffness, exhibiting more realistic response.     

Compressional waves in fluid-saturated porous solid containing a penny-shaped crack

Diffraction of normal compression waves by a penny-shaped crack in a fluid-saturated porous medium is investigated. Two wave types are considered, namely, compressional wave of the first kind, and the second kind. The former, also known as fast wave, propagates primarily through the solid, whereas the latter or slow wave, propagates mainly in the fluid. Each wave propagates in the medium along with induced wave of the same type in the companion constituent of the material. Application of Biot’s theory in conjunction with integral transform technique reduces the problem to a mixed boundary-value problem whose solution is in turn governed by a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. Near-field and far-field solutions are obtained in terms of the dynamic stress-intensity factor and the scattering cross section, respectively. They are of particular importance to the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and in the scattering theory of elastic waves. The mode I stress-intensity factors are computed numerically for a set of selected material property values, and shown graphically for various mass density and viscosity-to-permeability ratios. The obtained results reveal significant impact of the presence of pore fluid upon the stress-intensity factors, both magnitudes and frequencies at their peak values. The influence of the fluid is also observed from the calculated scattering cross sections of the scattered far-field. Accuracy of the present solution procedure is verified by comparing the numerical results with existing results in the limiting case of dry elastic materials.     

Sound scattering and its cancellation by an elastic spherical shell in free space and near a free surface

Sound scattering by an elastic spherical shell is analysed using linear acoustics and linear structural dynamics. It is suggested to utilize the shell’s structural dynamics to reduce or even eliminate the scattered sound field, thus making it practically acoustically invisible. This can be achieved using a prescribed external pressure distribution acting on the shell’s wall. Exact analytical solutions are found for that external pressure distribution, eliminating the scattered wave when the sphere is in free space or near a free surface and is subject to an incoming planar monochromatic sound wave. The latter is assumed to propagate in a direction perpendicular to the free surface (if it exists). The case of a few pressure-actuators acting on the shell’s wall is also modelled and an optimal solution which reduces the sound scattering by these actuators is found. An aluminium shell of 1 m radius and 5 mm thickness, situated in fresh water is analysed for sound frequencies of up to 10 kHz. The scattered wave fields are presented as well as the external pressure distributions that eliminate these scattered sound field, i.e. achieving acoustic cloaking. Significant reduction in the scattered wave energy and the target strength of more than 10 dB are also realized using a few pressure-actuators as long as the distance between the actuators is no more than three times the incident wave length for the investigated cases.     

Stability of a viscoelastic plate in fluid flow

The stability of an infinite viscoelastic plate on an elastic foundation in a viscous incompressible flow is studied. The Navier-Stokes system is linearized for an exponential velocity profile. The problem is reduced by a Fourier-Laplace transform to a system of ordinary differential equations, whose solution is found in the form of convergent series. The roots of the dispersion relation that characterize the stability of the system are found numerically. The effect of the viscosities of the fluid and the plate on the stability of the waves propagating upstream and downstream is studied. The results are compared with available data on the stability of a viscoelastic plate in an ideal fluid flow. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 66–74, July–August, 2006.     

Mircorheology and jamming in a yield-stress fluid

We study the onset of a yield stress in a polymer microgel dispersion using a combination of particle-tracking microrheology and shear rheometry. On the bulk scale, the dispersion changes from a predominantly viscous fluid to a stiff elastic gel as the concentration of the microgel particles increases. On the microscopic scale, the tracer particles see two distinct microrheological environments over a range of concentrations—one being primarily viscous, the other primarily elastic. The fraction of the material that is elastic on the microscale increases from zero to one as the concentration increases. Our results indicate that the yield stress appears as the result of jamming of the microgel particles, and we infer a model for the small-scale structure and interactions within the dispersion and their relationship to the bulk viscoelastic properties.     

Forced convection heat transfer of Giesekus viscoelastic fluid in pipes and channels

A theoretical solution is presented for the convective heat transfer of Giesekus viscoelastic fluid in pipes and channels, under fully developed thermal and hydrodynamic flow conditions, for an imposed constant heat flux at the wall. The fluid properties are taken as constant and axial conduction is negligible. The effect of Weissenberg number (We), mobility parameter (α) and Brinkman number (Br) on the temperature profile and Nusselt number are investigated. The results emphasize the significant effect of viscous dissipation and fluid elasticity on the Nusselt number in all circumstances. For wall cooling and the Brinkman number exceeds a critical value (Br ₁), the heat generated by viscous dissipation overcomes the heat removed at the wall and fluid heats up longitudinally. Fluid elasticity shifts this critical Brinkman number to higher values.     

Gravity-induced spreading of a drop of a viscous fluid over a surface

The unsteady-state nonlinear problem of spreading of a drop of a viscous fluid on the horizontal surface of a solid under the action of gravity and capillary forces is considered for small Reynolds numbers. The method of asymptotic matching is applied to solve the axisymmetrical problem of spreading when the gravity exerts a significant effect on the dynamics of the drop. The flow structure in the drop is determined at large times in the neighborhood of a self-similar solution. The ranges of applicability of the quasiequilibrium model of drop spreading with a dynamic edge angle and a self-similar solution are found. It is shown that the transition from one flow model to another occurs at very large Bond numbers. Institute of Mechanics of Multiphase Systems, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen’ 625000. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 59–67, May–June, 1999.