The entrapped elasticity of a fluid‐loaded plate

Abstract

It is basic knowledge that the wave equation for an acoustic fluid represents a force balance between an inertia and an elastic‐restoring component in much the same way a balance exists between the mass and spring forces of a simple oscillator. It is also commonly known that only the mass component contributes to sound radiation from a simple pulsating convex source like a pulsating sphere, cylinder, or circular piston in a baffle. (By simple source one usually means a source whose dimensions a, are small compared to the acoustic wavelength, that ka < 1.) This paper will explore the situations under which the elastic component of an acoustic field arise, and specifically, consider how both the mass and elastic components of the acoustic field contributes to the vibratory response of a fluid‐loaded plate.