Fluid-loading effects on waves on conical shells

Abstract

This paper studies the propagation and radiation properties of elastic waves on conical shells. Discussed in detail are shear, compressional, and flexural waves in the intermediate frequency domain in which they are dominant wave types in the interactions between sound and elastic shells. It is shown that fluid loading has negligible effects on the propagation of shear waves, but significantly changes the behavior of compressional and flexural waves. Fluid loading also introduces radiation damping to shear and compressional waves. It is shown that radiation damping for compressional waves is much higher than that for shear waves. The analysis is applied to a particular conical shell geometry used in previous experiments. The results are consistent with experimental observations and provide theoretical explanations for the experimental data.