Effects of dynamic viscoelastic properties on acoustic diffraction by a solid sphere submerged in a viscous fluid

Summary  This study provides a general analysis for scattering of a planar monochromatic compressional sound wave by a homogeneous, isotropic, viscoelastic, solid sphere immersed in an unbounded viscous, heat-nonconducting, compressible fluid. The dynamic viscoelastic properties of the spherical scatterer and the viscosity of the surrounding fluid are rigorously taken into account in the solution of the acoustic-scattering problem. Havriliak–Negami model for viscoelastic material behaviour along with the appropriate wave-harmonic field expansions and the pertinent boundary conditions are employed to develop a closed-form solution in form of infinite series. Subsequently, the associated acoustic quantities such as the scattered far-field pressure directivity pattern, scattered intensity distribution, differential scattering cross section, and the acoustic radiation force are evaluated for given sets of viscoelastic material properties. Numerical results clearly indicate that, in addition to the traditional fluid viscosity-related mechanisms, the dynamic viscoelastic properties of the solid obstacle can be of major significance in sound scattering. Limiting cases are examined and fair agreements with well-known solutions are established. Received 15 January 2002; accepted for publication 2 July 2002 The authors wish to sincerely thank professors Daniel Levesque, Roderic Lakes, Yves Berthelot, S. Temkin, and Andrei Dukhin for valuable and productive consultations on dynamic theory of viscoelasticity and acoustics of (thermo)viscous media.