Acoustic scattering by elastic cylinders of elliptical cross-section and splitting up of resonances

Abstract

The scattering of a plane acoustic wave by an infinite elastic cylinder of elliptical cross section is studied from a modal formalism by emphasizing the role of the symmetries. More precisely, as the symmetry is broken in the transition from the infinite circular cylinder to the elliptical one, the splitting up of resonances is observed both theoretically and experimentally. This phenomenon can be interpreted using group theory. The main difficulty stands in the application of this theory within the framework of the vectorial formalism in elastodynamics. This method significantly simplifies the numerical treatment of the problem, provides a full classification of the resonances, and gives a physical interpretation of the splitting up in terms of symmetry breaking. An experimental part based on ultrasonic spectroscopy complements the theoretical study. A series of tank experiments is carried out in the case of aluminium elliptical cylinders immersed in water, in the frequency range 0 ≤ kr ≤ 50, where kr is the reduced wave number in the fluid. The symmetry is broken by selecting various cylinders of increasing eccentricity. More precisely, the greater the eccentricity, the higher the splitting up of resonances is accentuated. The experimental results provide a very good agreement with the theoretical ones, the splitting up is observed on experimental form functions, and the split resonant modes are identified on angular diagrams. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.