On acoustic radiation by a rigid object in a fluid flow

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Abstract A problem of sound radiation by an absolutely rigid object, moving with respect to the surrounding fluid, is considered on the basis of the Lighthill's equation for aerodynamic sound. An integral representation of the radiated acoustic field is utilized, where the field is characterized as the sum of three fields, generated by a volume distribution of monopoles and by distributions of monopoles and dipoles on the surface of the rigid object. It is shown that, due to a discontinuity of Lighthill's stress tensor on the rigid boundary, a layer of surface divergence of hydrodynamic stresses on the boundary must be taken into account when evaluating the volume integral over Lighthill's quadrupole sources. When the contribution of the surface divergence is included in the solution of Lighthill's equation, amplitudes of the monopole and dipole sound radiated by the rigid object are shown to depend on the potential components of the normal velocity and the pressure on the rigid surface. The obtained solution is compared with Curle's solution for this problem, which establishes that the sound radiation by a rigid object is determined by the force exerted by the object upon the fluid. Both solutions are applied to two known problems of sound scattering and radiation by a rigid sphere in variable pressure and velocity fields. It is shown that predictions based on the obtained solution are equivalent to the results known from literature, whereas Curle's solution gives predictions contradicting the known results. It is also shown that the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation, which coincides with Curle's equation for an immoveable rigid object, does not lead to the correct predictions as well.