Propagation of acoustic waves and shock waves radiated by a sinusoidal pulsation of a sphere during a single period

A spherical sound wave is emitted by a sphere which executes a small sinusoidal pulsation of a single period at high frequency in an inviscid fluid. Nonlinear propagation of the waves is formulated as an initial boundary value problem and is analysed in detail. The governing equation is linear near the sphere, while it is a nonlinear hyperbolic equation in a far field. The nonlinearity has a significant effect there, leading to the formation of two shocks. The exact solution to match the near field solution can easily be obtained for the far field equation. The nonlinear distortion of waveform and the shock formation distance are evaluated from the representation of the solution with strained coordinates. The evolution and nonlinear attenuation of the two shock discontinuities are also examined by making use of the equal-areas rule. In its asymptotic form the entire profile is an N wave with a long tail.