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Acousticwave
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Acousticwavesareatypeoflongitudinalwavesthatpropagatebymeansofadiabaticcompressionand
decompression.Longitudinalwavesarewavesthathavethesamedirectionofvibrationastheirdirection
oftravel.Importantquantitiesfordescribingacousticwavesaresoundpressure,particlevelocity,
particledisplacementandsoundintensity.Acousticwavestravelwiththespeedofsoundwhichdepends
onthemediumthey'repassingthrough.

Contents
1 Waveproperties
1.1 Acousticwaveequation
1.2 Phase
1.3 Propagationspeed
1.4 Interference
1.5 Standingwave
1.6 Reflection
1.7 Absorption
2 Measurement
3 Seealso

Waveproperties
Acousticwavesarelongitudinalwavesthatexhibitphenomenalikediffraction,reflectionand
interference.Soundwaveshoweverdon'thaveanypolarizationsincetheyoscillatealongthesame
directionastheymove.

Acousticwaveequation
Theacousticwaveequationdescribesthepropagationofsoundwaves.Theacousticwaveequationfor
soundpressureinonedimensionisgivenby

where
issoundpressureinPa
isparticledisplacementinm
isspeedofsoundinm/s
istimeins
Thewaveequationforparticlevelocityhasthesameshapeandisgivenby

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where
isparticlevelocityinm/s
Forlossymedia,moreintricatemodelsneedtobeappliedinordertotakeintoaccountfrequency
dependentattenuationandphasespeed.Suchmodelsincludeacousticwaveequationsthatincorporate
fractionalderivativeterms,seealsotheacousticattenuationarticle.
D'Alembertgavethegeneralsolutionforthelosslesswaveequation.Forsoundpressure,asolution
wouldbe

where
isangularfrequencyinrad/s
istimeins
iswavenumberinradm1
isacoefficientwithoutunit
For
thewavebecomesatravellingwavemovingrightwards,for
travellingwavemovingleftwards.Astandingwavecanbeobtainedby

thewavebecomesa
.

Phase
Inatravellingwavepressureandparticlevelocityareinphase,whichmeansthephaseanglebetween
thetwoquantitiesiszero.
Thiscanbeeasilyprovenusingtheidealgaslaw

where
ispressureinPa
isvolumeinm3
isamountinmol
istheuniversalgasconstantwithvalue
Consideravolume .Asanacousticwavepropagatesthroughthevolume,adiabaticcompressionand
decompressionoccurs.Foradiabaticchangethefollowingrelationbetweenvolume ofaparcelof
fluidandpressure holds

where
istheadiabaticindexwithoutunit
Asasoundwavepropagatesthroughavolume,displacementofparticles occursalongthewave
propagationdirection.
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where
iscrosssectionalareainm2
Fromthisequationitcanbeseenthatwhenpressureisatitsmaximum,displacementreacheszero.As
mentionedbefore,theoscillatingpressureforarightwardtravellingwavecanbegivenby

Sincedisplacementismaximumwhenpressureiszerothereisa90degreesphasedifference,so
displacementisgivenby

Particlevelocityisthefirstderivativeofparticledisplacement.Differentiationofasinegivesacosine
again

Duringadiabaticchange,temperaturechangeswithpressureaswellfollowing

Thisfactisexploitedwithinthefieldofthermoacoustics.

Propagationspeed
Thepropagationspeedofacousticwavesisgivenbythespeedofsound.Ingeneral,thespeedofsoundc
isgivenbytheNewtonLaplaceequation:

where
Cisacoefficientofstiffness,thebulkmodulus(orthemodulusofbulkelasticityforgas
mediums),
isthedensityinkg/m3
Thusthespeedofsoundincreaseswiththestiffness(theresistanceofanelasticbodytodeformationby
anappliedforce)ofthematerial,anddecreaseswiththedensity.Forgeneralequationsofstate,if
classicalmechanicsisused,thespeedofsound isgivenby

wheredifferentiationistakenwithrespecttoadiabaticchange.
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where isthepressureand isthedensity

Interference
Interferenceistheadditionoftwoormorewavesthatresultsinanewwavepattern.Interferenceof
soundwavescanbeobservedwhentwoloudspeakerstransmitthesamesignal.Atcertainlocations
constructiveinterferenceoccurs,doublingthelocalsoundpressure.Andatotherlocationsdestructive
interferenceoccurs,causingalocalsoundpressureofzeropascals.

Standingwave
Astandingwaveisaspecialkindofwavethatcanoccurinaresonator.Inaresonatorsuperpositionof
theincidentandreflectivewaveoccurs,causingastandingwave.Pressureandparticlevelocityare90
degreesoutofphaseinastandingwave.
Consideratubewithtwoclosedendsactingasaresonator.Theresonatorhasnormalmodesat
frequenciesgivenby

where
isthespeedofsoundinm/s
isthelengthofthetubeinm
Attheendsparticlevelocitybecomeszerosincetherecanbenoparticledisplacement.Pressurehowever
doublesattheendsbecauseofinterferenceoftheincidentwavewiththereflectivewave.Aspressureis
maximumattheendswhilevelocityiszero,thereisa90degreesphasedifferencebetweenthem.

Reflection
Anacoustictravellingwavecanbereflectedbyasolidsurface.Ifatravellingwaveisreflected,the
reflectedwavecaninterferewiththeincidentwavecausingastandingwaveinthenearfield.Asa
consequence,thelocalpressureinthenearfieldisdoubled,andtheparticlevelocitybecomeszero.
Attenuationcausesthereflectedwavetodecreaseinpowerasdistancefromthereflectivematerial
increases.Asthepowerofthereflectivewavedecreasescomparedtothepoweroftheincidentwave,
interferencealsodecreases.Andasinterferencedecreases,sodoesthephasedifferencebetweensound
pressureandparticlevelocity.Atalargeenoughdistancefromthereflectivematerial,thereisno
interferenceleftanymore.Atthisdistanceonecanspeakofthefarfield.
Theamountofreflectionisgivenbythereflectioncoefficientwhichistheratioofthereflectedintensity
overtheincidentintensity

Absorption
Acousticwavescanbeabsorbed.Theamountofabsorptionisgivenbytheabsorptioncoefficientwhich
isgivenby
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where
istheabsorptioncoefficientwithoutaunit
isthereflectioncoefficientwithoutaunit
Oftenacousticabsorptionofmaterialsisgivenindecibelsinstead.

Measurement
Soundpressurecanbemeasureddirectlyusingamicrophone.Particlevelocitycanbemeasureddirectly
usingaparticlevelocityprobe.Itisalsopossibletomeasurethequantitiesindirectlyusingtheopposite
instrument.Soundintensitycanbemeasuredusingdifferentcombinations:
Microphoneandparticlevelocityprobe(puprobe)
Twomicrophones(ppprobe)
Twoparticlevelocityprobes(uuprobe)
Thesoundpressureismeasuredinpascal,theparticlevelocityinmeterspersecondandthesound
intensityinwatts.Oftenthesequantitiesaremeasuredasalevelindecibelsrelativetoacertainquantity.
Thesoundpressurelevelisgivenby

where
istherootmeansquarepressureinPa
isthereferencevalueof2*105Pa
Theparticlevelocitylevelisgivenby

where
istherootmeansquareparticlevelocityinm/s
isthereferencevalueof5*108m/s
Thesoundintensitylevelisgivenby

where
istherootmeansquaresoundintensityinW
isthereferencevalueof1*1012W
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Seealso
Acoustics
Psychoacoustics
Acousticattenuation
Resonance
Auditoryimagery
Refraction
Audiosignalprocessing
Reflection
Beat
Reverberation
Diffraction
Signaltone
Dopplereffect
Soundlocalization
Echo
Soundproofing
Gravitywave
Stereoimaging
Music
Structuralacoustics
Musicalnote
Timbre
Musicaltone
Ultrasound
Phonon
Listofunexplainedsounds
Physicsofmusic
Pitch
Psychoacoustics
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