Parametric excitation of shear waves in soft solids

One of the possible mechanisms that may underlie ultrasound-induced damage of soft solids is discussed. The model of three-wave interaction in a solid is used to consider shear wave generation by a longitudinal sound wave in a solid with a small shear modulus. Numerical estimates are obtained for the excitation threshold of the shear wave in biological tissues. Since the wavelength of ultrasound-generated shear waves is small, the shear stresses may be sufficient to destroy the structure of biological tissue. Results of model experiments are presented.     

Investigation of dielectric spectra from moist soils during freezing-thawing processes

A frequency spectrum of the complex dielectric permittivity of soils is measured in the range of frequencies from 0.5 to 15.0 GHz in the course of frost penetration and thawing. The phase transitions taking place during frost penetration and thawing are analyzed within the concept of the generalized refractive mixing dielectric model (GRMDM). Two types of water concurrently present in the soil are identified: bound and free water. Temperature dependences of the Debye model parameters for each type of water are given, and parameters of a dielectric spectroscopic model of frozen and thawed soils are found. The hysteresis phenomenon during the phase transition of the soil moisture is investigated. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 24–28, September, 2008.     

Initiation of Light Pulses by a Coaxial H‐Compressed Discharge

An optimum configuration of the discharge channel of a coaxial Hcompressed discharge is determined to exclude the screening influence of an envelope on discharge radiation in the UV region of a spectrum. It is shown that the use of an Hcompressed discharge of coaxial shape makes it possible to increase the radiation yield in the UV spectrum as compared to a plane shape at the same parameters of electric power supply.     

On the collapse of wave packets in a medium with normal group velocity dispersion

A solution to the problem of realizing the collapse of three-dimensional wave packets in nonlinear media with normal group velocity dispersion is proposed. Wave packets with pronounced hyperbolic topology are shown to collapse; i.e., the field increases infinitely near the system axis. In particular, wave collapse of the tubular axisymmetric packets occurs through the concentration of the compressed ring field distribution at the axis. The collapse is shown to stabilize due to the saturation of nonlinearity or nonlinear dissipation, which restrict the field increase and lead to the packet splitting in the transverse direction.     

Intermittent self-organization of scroll wave turbulence in three-dimensional excitable media

We study the asymptotic behavior of scroll wave turbulence in large three-dimensional excitable media modeled by FitzHugh-Nagumo equations. The focus is on the type of turbulence caused by negative tension of scroll wave filaments, which is considered to be one of the mechanisms of cardiac fibrillation. We discovered that the initial increase in turbulence complexity can be followed by intermittent self-organization, when complex filament tangles are replaced by a small number of relatively stable triple filament strands. The intermittency is the result of a competition between the destabilizing effect of negative tension and mutual attraction of filaments with similar orientation.     

Mean force on a small sphere in a sound field in a viscous fluid

A mean force exerted on a small rigid sphere by a sound wave in a viscous fluid is calculated. The force is expressed as a sum of drag force coming from the external steady flow existing in the absence of the sphere and contributions that are cross products of velocity and velocity derivatives of the incident field. Because of the drag force and an acoustic streaming generated near the sphere, the mean force does not coincide with the acoustic radiation pressure, i.e., the mean momentum flux carried by the sound field through any surface enclosing the sphere. If the sphere radius R is considerably smaller than the viscous wave penetration depth delta, the drag force can give the leading-order contribution (in powers of delta/R) to the mean force and the latter can then be directed against the radiation pressure. In another limit, delta< or =R, the drag force and acoustic streaming play a minor role, and the mean force reduces to the radiation pressure, which can be expressed through source strengths of the scattered sound field. The effect of viscosity can then be significant only if the incident wave is locally plane traveling.