Impedance transfer in a variable cross-section tube (Q1113761)

The propagation of the fundamental, longitudinal acoustic mode in a tube of varying cross-section is considered. The acoustic problem is to be considered under the following conditions: the tube is rigid, so that the cross-section S(x) depends only on x, and it is of finite length, supposed to be equal to the unity; the mean state of the fluid is at rest, with constant density \(\rho\) ; the propagation is adiabatic; for small amplitude waves, the standard motion equations, the momentum and continuity equations, are linearized in the velocity u, pressure p and density perturbations and read: \(\rho u_ t+p_ x=0\); \(S(x)p_ t+\rho c^ 2[S(x)u]_ x=0\); \(0<x\leq 1\). We consider the tube opening upon an acoustic apparatus of a given impedance z. The present work is divided in two sections: in the first one, the impedance z(x), at an arbitrary point x of the tube, is determined and written as function of the given impedance z. In the second section, applications to standard tubes are given: the exponential tube, \(S(x)\sim \exp (2k_ 0x)\), the catenoïdal tubes S(x)\(\sim (\cos hk^ 2_ 0x,\sin h^ 2k_ 0x)\), \(k_ 0=cste\), which have constant cutoff frequency for the acoustic pressure, on the one hand, the Bessel tube \(S\sim x^{2r}\), specially the case \(r=1\) (conical tube) and \(r=2\) (``parabolic'' tube) for which \textit{O. K. Mawardi}'s results [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 21, 323-330 (1949)] are recovered, on the other hand. The method of integral equations is used. It is applied to the so-called Webster equation, viz., the second order differential equation with variable coefficients which governs the acoustic pression spectra.