Sound propagation in saturated gas-vapor-droplet suspensions with droplet evaporation and nonlinear relaxation

Abstract

The Sound attenuation and dispersion in saturated gas-vapor-droplet mixture in the presence of evaporation has been investigated theoretically. The theory is based on an extension of the work of Davidson [J. Atmos. Sci. 32(11), 2201–2205 (1975)] to accommodate the effects of nonlinear particle relaxation processes of mass, momentum and energy transfer on sound attenuation and dispersion. The results indicate the existence of a spectral broadening effect in the attenuation coefficient (scaled with respect to the peak value) with a decrease in droplet mass concentration. It is further shown that for large values of the droplet concentration the scaled attenuation coefficient is characterized by a universal spectrum independent of droplet mass concentration.