Paper 1, Section II, 40A
Compressible fluid of equilibrium density , pressure and sound speed is contained in the region between an inner rigid sphere of radius and an outer elastic sphere of equilibrium radius . The elastic sphere is made to oscillate radially in such a way that it exerts a spherically symmetric, perturbation pressure on the fluid at , where and the frequency is sufficiently small that
You may assume that the acoustic velocity potential satisfies the wave equation
(a) Derive an expression for .
(b) Hence show that the net radial component of the acoustic intensity (wave-energy flux) is zero when averaged appropriately in a way you should define. Interpret this result physically.
(c) Briefly discuss the possible behaviour of the system if the forcing frequency is allowed to increase to larger values.
For a spherically symmetric variable