Experimental and theoretical wave propagation in solid and hollow cylinders in fluid

Abstract

A comparison between experiment and theory is made involving axi‐symmetric wave propagation along solid and hollow cylinders immersed in a fluid (i.e., water). The theoretical methods to generate waveforms include both integral representation and finite‐difference modeling. The dispersive modal characteristics are calculated from the waveforms. The experiments are made on solid and hollow steel cylinders of 0.75 in. and 0.625 in. The source and receiver transducers are made from PZT rings 1.0 in. and 0.5 in. high which freely slide along the cylinders. Data are collected as a function of source‐receiver spacing and over a frequency range of 40–240 kHz. A Prony's method is used to obtain the modal characteristics. Discussions will focus on the good agreement between theory and experiment, the differences between the mode structures in the two cases and the asymptotic behaviors at short and long wavelengths. Some interesting comparisons between monopole and dipole modes will also be made.