Phase speed and attenuation in bubbly liquids inferred from impedance measurements near the individual bubble resonance frequency

Abstract

In the ocean, natural and artificial processes generate clouds of bubbles that scatter and attenuate sound. Measurements have shown that at the individual bubble resonance frequency, sound propagation in this medium is highly attenuated and dispersive. The existing theory to explain this behavior is deemed adequate away from resonance. However, due to excessive attenuation near resonance, little experimental data exists for a comparison with model predictions. An impedance tube was developed specifically for exploring this regime. The effective medium phase speed and attenuation were inferred from measurements of the surface impedance of a layer of bubbly liquid composed of air bubbles and distilled water, for void fractions from 6.2 x 10(-5) to 5.4 x 10(-4) and bubble sizes centered around 0.62 mm in radius. Improved measurement speed, accuracy, and precision is possible with the new instrument, and both instantaneous and time-averaged measurements were obtained. The phase speed and attenuation at resonance was observed to be sensitive to the bubble population statistics and agreed with an existing model [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 732-746 (1989)], within the uncertainty of the bubble population parameters. Agreement between the model and the data reported here is better than for the data that was available when the model was originally published.