Offered Every Spring


Credit Hours: 3-0-3
Prerequisites: Math 2403 or MATH 2413 or MATH 24X3
Catalog Description: Fundamental principles governing the generation, propagation, reflection, and transmission of sound waves in fluids. Crosslisted with AE 6760.
Textbooks: Allan D. Pierce, Acoustics: Introduction to Physical Principles and Applications, 1st Edition, Springer-Verlag, 1989 (an Acoustical Society publication).
Instructors: Anyone in the Acoustics group, Kenneth Cunefare, Jacek Jarzynski
Audience: Graduate students in Engineering or Physics interested in theoretical acoustics.
Goals: The goal of this course is to expose students to an in-depth understanding of the fundamental principles governing the generation, propagation, reflection, and transmission of sound waves in fluids.
Topics:
  • Fundamentals
  • Governing equations
  • Sound speed
  • Energy, intensity
  • Coherent and incoherent sound sources
  • Acoustic power
  • Plane, spherical sound waves
  • Spectral analysis, decibels, frequency weighting
  • Reflection and Transmission of sound waves
  • Acoustic impedance
  • reflection/transmission between two fluids
  • reflection at an impedance boundary
  • standing wave tube
  • radiation from a vibrating infinite plate
  • transmission through a wall, a layer
  • Ideal sources
  • pulsating sphere, translating sphere
  • monopoles, dipoles, quadrupoles
  • multipole expansions, spherical harmonics