Acoustic radiation of cylindrical elastic shells subjected to a point source: investigation in terms of helical acoustic rays.

The paper deals with the acoustic radiation of a cylindrical elastic shell with no internal loading surrounded by a fluid medium when its external surface is subjected to a point source. The problem is addressed via the use of the spatial Fourier transform. An expression is obtained for the radiated pressure that is evaluated for the far field using both the stationary phase method and the fast Fourier transform (FFT). The acoustic field calculated from the FFT is much more complicated than that obtained by using only the stationary phase method. In agreement with the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD), alternative interpretations of the radiated field in terms of helical acoustic rays allows one to understand the reason for this result. The outstanding phenomenon underlined by the use of the FFT is the emergence of an infinite number of spatial dispersion curves associated with each leaky wave propagating in shells when excited by a point source.