Harmonic generation in finite amplitude sound beams from a rectangular aperture source

Abstract

Theoretical analysis and some experiments are performed on nonlinearly generated harmonic components in bounded sound beams emitted from a rectangular aperture source. The Khokhlov–Zabolotskaya–Kuznetsov equation, which takes account of nonlinearity, dissipation, and diffraction effects in the beams, is numerically solved by means of the alternating direction implicit difference method. Using a planar source of size 24×44 cm, axial sound pressures and beam patterns of the first three harmonics are measured in air for initially sinusoidal ultrasounds of 25- and 30-kHz frequency, and are compared with the theory. They are in relatively good agreement. Deformation of the source face from circular to rectangular shape results in the unclear appearance of pressure peaks and dips with propagation. Within the framework of these studies, the harmonic pressure levels in the far field are almost the same as from a circular aperture source with equal face area and equal initial pressure, independent of the source levels.