A preliminary study on the acoustic properties of seafloor sediment in the southern U-boundary of the South China Sea

The acoustic properties of seafloor sediment are essential parameters in the exploration of marine resources,ocean scientific research and ocean engineering.Seafloor sediment samples were collected at the southern U-boundary of the South China Sea(SCS),and the acoustic and physical properties were measured in the laboratory.The correlation between physical and sound speed ratio(SSR)was discussed,and SSR-physical property empirical regressions in the Sunda Shelf were established for the first time.Compared with the northern continental shelf of SCS,the Sunda Shelf are mainly silty and sand sediment,and the SSR ranges from 0.9949 to 1.0944,which has higher SSR than the northern continental shelf,implies that the Sunda Shelf is a high SSR area.Since the same kind of sediment has different physical properties,the single physical parameter of sediment cannot fully represent the acoustic properties of sediment,therefore,the multiple parameter prediction model should develop in the future to improve the prediction precision.

Influence of Gas Hydrate on the Acoustic Properties of Sediment: A Comprehensive Review with a Focus on Experimental Measurements

In recent years, natural gas hydrate has attracted increasing attention worldwide as a potential alternative energy source due to its attributes of wide distribution, large reserves, and low carbon. Since the acoustic characteristics of hydratebearing reservoirs clearly differ from those of adjacent formations, an acoustic approach, using seismic and acoustic logging, is one of the most direct, effective and widely used methods among the identification and characterization techniques for hydrate reservoir exploration. This review of research on the influence of hydrate(content and distribution) on the acoustic properties(velocity and attenuation) of sediments in the past two decades includes experimental studies based on different hydrate formation methods and measurements, as well as rock physics models. The main problems in current research are also pointed out and future prospects discussed.

Low-frequency laboratory measurements of the elastic properties of solids using a distributed acoustic sensing system

In recent decades,low-frequency(LF)experiments based on the forced-oscillation(FO)method have become common practice in many rock physics laboratories for measuring the elastic and anelastic properties of rocks.However,the use of the electronic displacement sensors in traditional acquisition systems of FO devices such as conventional capacitive transducers or strain gauges seriously limits both the efficiency and productivity of LF measurements,and,due to the limited contact area of the displacement sensors with a sample under test,increases the requirements for sample homogeneity.In this paper,we present the first results obtained in the development of a new laboratory method elaborated to measure the elastic properties of solids.The method is a further development of the FO method where traditional data acquisition is replaced by acquisition based on fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing(DAS)technology.The new method was tested in a laboratory study using two FO setups designed for measurements under uniaxial and confining pressures.The study was carried out on a sample made from polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)and an aluminium standard,first under uniaxial pressure at FO frequencies of 1,10,30,60 and 100 Hz,and then under confining pressure at an FO frequency of 1 Hz.Both uniaxial and confining pressures were equal to 10 MPa,and the strain in the PMMA sample in all measurements did not exceed 4×10^(-8).The performance of DAS acquisition was compared with the measurements conducted at a strain of 1×10^(-6) using the traditional FO method based on the use of semiconductor strain gauges and the ultrasonic method.The results of the DAS measurements are in good agreement with the FO measurements carried out using semiconductor strain gauges and with the literature data.

Magnetostriction and Acoustics Properties of Tb_(1-x)Dy_x (Fe_(1-y)Mn_y)_(1.95) Alloys and Their Application to Sonar Transducers

The magnetostriction and acoustics properties of Tb1-x xDyx (Fe1-yMny) 1.95 alloys and their application to sonar transducers were studied. The following results were obtained from experiments. When the applied magnetic field intensity is ≥ 800 kA·m-1, the magnetostrictive coefficients are (1300- 1800)× 10-6. The electromechanical coupling factors are 0.84-0.93, the sound velocities 2168-2856 m·s-1 and the Young's modulus (5.06- 7.26) ×10 N·m-2. A sonar transducer made of the alloy rod, which has a total length of 300 mm and a total weight of 2 kg, is characterized by 2.4 kHz specified resonant frequency, 1 kHz frequency band, 173 kB current response and 45% electroacoustic efficiency.

SOME PROPERTIES OF FAR FIELD PATTERNS OF ACOUSTIC WAVES IN AN INHOMOGENEOUS MEDIUM

In this paper, by using functional analysis and integral equation method, we obtain some results about the properties of far field of acoustic waves in an inhomogeneous medium. And we also discuss some ill-posed inverse scattering problems by Tikhonov regularization method.

Effect of Methane Gas on Acoustic Characteristics of Hydrate-Bearing Sediment–Model Analysis and Experimental Verification

Gas leakage is an important consideration in natural systems that experience gas hydrate accumulation.A number of velocity models have been created to study hydrate-bearing sediments,including the BGTL theory,the weighted equation,the Wood equation,the K-T equation,and the effective medium theory.In previous work,we regarded water as the pore fluid,which meant its density and bulk modulus values were those of water.This approach ignores the presence of gas,which results in a biased calculation of the pore fluid's bulk modulus and density.To take into account the effect of gas on the elastic wave velocity,it is necessary to recalculate the bulk modulus and density of an equivalent medium.Thus,a high-pressure reactor device for simulating leakage systems was developed to establish the relationship between wave velocity and hydrate saturation in methane-flux mode.A comparison of the values calculated by the velocity model with the experimental data obtained in this study indicates that the effective medium theory(EMT,which considers gas effects)is more applicable than other models.For hydrate saturations of 10%–30%,the result ranges between EMT-B(homogenous gas distribution)and EMT-B(patchy gas distribution).For hydrate saturations of 30%–60%,the results are similar to those of the EMT-B(homogenous gas distribution)mode,whereas hydrate saturations of 60%–70%yield results similar to those of the EMT-A mode.For hydrate saturations greater than 80%,the experimental results are similar to those of the EMT-B mode.These results have significance for hydrate exploitation in the South China Sea.

Density-functional theory study of the effect of pressure on the elastic properties of CaB_6

Under high pressure, the long believed single-phase material CaB6 was latterly discovered to have a new phase tI56. Based on the density-functional theory, the pressure effects on the structural and elastic properties of CaB6 are obtained. The calculated bulk, shear, and Young’s moduli of the recently synthesized high pressure phase tI56-CaB6 are larger than those of the low pressure phase. Moreover, the high pressure phase of CaB6 has ductile behaviors, and its ductility increases with the increase of pressure. On the contrary, the calculated results indicate that the low pressure phase of CaB6 is brittle. The calculated Debye temperature indicates that the thermal conductivity of CaB6 is not very good. Furthermore, based on the Christoffel equation, the slowness surface of the acoustic waves is obtained.

Prediction of elastic and acoustic behaviors of calcarenite used for construction of historical monuments of Rabat, Morocco

Natural materials(e.g. rocks and soils) are porous media, whose microstructures present a wide diversity.They generally consist of a heterogeneous solid phase and a porous phase which may be fully or partially saturated with one or more fluids. The prediction of elastic and acoustic properties of porous materials is very important in many fields, such as physics of rocks, reservoir geophysics, civil engineering, construction field and study of the behavior of historical monuments. The aim of this work is to predict the elastic and acoustic behaviors of isotropic porous materials of a solid matrix containing dry, saturated and partially saturated spherical pores. For this, a homogenization technique based on the Morie Tanaka model is presented to connect the elastic and acoustic properties to porosity and degree of water saturation. Non-destructive ultrasonic technique is used to determine the elastic properties from measurements of P-wave velocities. The results obtained show the influence of porosity and degree of water saturation on the effective properties. The various predictions of Morie Tanaka model are then compared with experimental results for the elastic and acoustic properties of calcarenite.

Dynamics of acousto-rheological properties of polymerized materials on their solidification

An automated system was designed to study in a continuous regime the rheological properties of the care polymeric compositions using the damped vibration method.In a parallel mode measurements of rheological and acoustic characteristics of the care compositions were made on the basis of epoxy resin.Dependencies of shear modulus,viscosity,the sound speed,and the damping coefficient as functions of polymerization were presented.Dynamics of spectral characteristics of acoustic signals in the polymerization were investigated.Comparison of the experimental results obtained reveals that the dynamics of the variation of acoustic and rheological properties is significantly different.The major change of acoustic characteristics occurs in the initial stage of the solid state formation when a transition from a liquid-to-gel like state takes place.Rheological characteristics vary dramatically at the crossover from a high-viscosity to solid state.In the frequency dependencies of an acoustic signal a number of essential features were observed.

Investigation of Warp and Weft Knitted Fabric Acoustic Structures Derived from Garment Waste

The mechanical performance of knitted fabric was significantly affected by loop density and geometries. Knitted fabric composites occupy a special position in the field of engineering materials because of their easy to form complex components and high impact energy absorption. But Knitted fabric composites have low in-plane tensile strength because the yarns are in a loop structure in the materials. Sound insulation requirements in automobiles, manufacturing environments, and equipment, generating higher sound pressure drive the need to develop more efficient and economical ways of producing sound absorption materials. The knitted fabric based acoustic materials were produced from cut wastes from different garment industries for their sound absorption property test as per the method described in ASTM E 1050. The acoustic performance of knitted fabrics was measured by independent tube methods for sound waves of 1000-6000 Hz. It is observed that the knitted fabrics acoustic materials prepared from waste materials showed high sound absorption than woven fabrics made from the same synthetic fibers. Moreover, the test revealed that blended knitted fabric had a better sound absorption property.

Acoustic emissions evaluation of the dynamic splitting tensile properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete under freeze-thaw cycling

This study empirically investigated the influence of freeze-thaw cycling on the dynamic splitting tensile properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC).Brazilian disc splitting tests were conducted using four loading rates(0.002,0.02,0.2,and 2 mm/s)on specimens with four steel fiber contents(0%,0.6%,1.2%,and 1.8%)subjected to 0 and 50 freeze-thaw cycles.The dynamic splitting tensile damage characteristics were evaluated using acoustic emission(AE)parameter analysis and Fourier transform spectral analysis.The results quantified using the freeze-thaw damage factor defined in this paper indicate that the degree of damage to SFRC caused by freeze-thaw cycling was aggravated with increasing loading rate but mitigated by increasing fiber content.The percentage of low-frequency AE signals produced by the SFRC specimens during loading decreased with increasing loading rate,whereas that of high-frequency AE signals increased.Freeze-thaw action had little effect on the crack types observed during the early and middle stages of the loading process;however,the primary crack type observed during the later stage of loading changed from shear to tensile after the SFRC specimens were subjected to freeze-thaw cycling.Notably,the results of this study indicate that the freeze-thaw damage to SFRC reduces AE signal activity at low frequencies.

Study on Sound-Speed Dispersion in A Sandy Sediment at Frequency Ranges of 0.5–3 kHz and 90–170 kHz

In order to study the properties of sound-speed dispersion in a sandy sediment, the sound speed was measured both at high frequency （90-170 kHz） and low frequency （0.5-3 kHz） in laboratory environments. At high frequency, a sampling measurement was conducted with boiled and uncooked sand samples collected from the bottom of a large water tank. The sound speed was directly obtained through transmission measurement using single source and single hydrophone. At low frequency, an in situ measurement was conducted in the water tank, where the sandy sediment had been homogeneously paved at the bottom for a long time. The sound speed was indirectly inverted according to the traveling time of signals received by three buried hydrophones in the sandy sediment and the geometry in experiment. The results show that the mean sound speed is approximate 1710-1713 m/s with a weak positive gradient in the sand sample after being boiled （as a method to eliminate bubbles as much as possible） at high frequency, which agrees well with the predictions of Biot theory, the effective density fluid model （EDFM） and Buckingham＇s theory. However, the sound speed in the uncooked sandy sediment obviously decreases （about 80%） both at high frequency and low frequency due to plenty of bubbles in existence. And the sound-speed dispersion performs a weak negative gradient at high frequency. Finally, a water-unsaturated Biot model is presented for trying to explain the decrease of sound speed in the sandy sediment with plenty of bubbles.

Theoretical dispersion curves for borehole real-valued wave modes in vertically transverse isotropic formations

The dispersion curves of real-valued modes in a fluid-filled borehole are widely used in acoustic well logging.The accurate dispersion curves are the precondition of theoretical analysis and inversion process.Generally,these curves can be obtained by solving the conventional dispersion equation for isotropic formations and most vertically transverse isotropy(VTI)formations.However,if the real-valued solutions exist when the radial wavenumbers for the formation quasi-P and quasi-S equals to each other,the existed methods based on the conventional dispersion equation could lead to incorrect results for some VTI formations.Few studies have focused on the influence of these real-valued solutions on dispersion curve extraction.To remove these real-valued solutions,we have proposed a modified dispersion equation and its corresponding solving process.When solving the dispersion equation,the Scholte wave velocity of VTI formation at high frequency is used as the initial guess.The two synthetic examples including fast and slow VTI formations validate that these real-valued solutions do not contribute to the wavefield,and the new dispersion curve extraction method is suitable for all kinds of VTI formations.Consequently,the method can provide reliable dispersion curves for both theoretical analysis and anisotropic parameters inversion in VTI formations.

Design of interdigitated transducers for acoustofluidic applications

Interdigitated transducers(IDTs)were originally designed as delay lines for radars.Half a century later,they have found new life as actuators for microfluidic systems.By generating strong acoustic fields,they trigger nonlinear effects that enable pumping and mixing of fluids,and moving particles without contact.However,the transition from signal processing to actuators comes with a range of challenges concerning power density and spatial resolution that have spurred exciting developments in solid-state acoustics and especially in IDT design.Assuming some familiarity with acoustofluidics,this paper aims to provide a tutorial for IDT design and characterization for the purpose of acoustofluidic actuation.It is targeted at a diverse audience of researchers in various fields,including fluid mechanics,acoustics,and microelectronics.

ACOUSTICAL PROPERTIES OF QING

The qing was an important percussion musical instrument in ancient China. Qing is a stone plate with special form. The vibration of qing is studied both theoretically and experimentally in this paper. The vibrational modes of a qing have been calculated by using finite element method in accordance with the experimental results. As compared with a rectangular plate, the frequency relations between the overtones are varied with the changes of shape of the qing. From the analysis, it is possible to speculate upon the idea of design of the qing in ancient time. In order to confirm the idea, the sound of qing has been simulated by computer and judged subjectively. An empirical formula for the calculation of the pitch frequency of qing sound is given.

Method based on broadband compressed pulse superposition to measure properties of underwater acoustic materials

A method is proposed for the measurements of the performances of underwater acoustic finite sized large area material samples in a free field by using broadband pulse compression technique. As the result of which, the low-frequency cutoff of the standard tests is obviously reduced, and the broadband measurements are also realized. The experimental system provides measurements of complex reflection and transmission coefficients at continuous frequency points. From the data one can obtain the following acoustic parameters: echo reduction and insertion loss, absorption and attenuation coefficients, etc. The measurements are performed for two actual panels with the size 1 m x 1 m in the frequency range from 2-20 kHz.

Geoacoustic model and acoustic reflection properties of fluid mud layer in Changjiang Estuary and Hangzhou Bay

A generalized geoacoustic model of fluid mud layer in Chanaiiang Estuary and Hangzhou Bay has been derived from a large amount of in-situ measurements of bulk density (p) profiles of the lay6rs and of lab measurements of acoustic velocities (c) and attenuation coefficients (o) of the fluid mud samples with different values of p for four frequencies of 100 kHz, 150 kHz, 500 kHz, 1500 kHz. The main features of the geoacoustic model can be expressed as follows: from the upper boundary, the bulk density of the fiuid mud increases linearly with depth z, however there is a gradient change (knee) when p is about 12.5 kN/m', then p increases linearly to a value about 15.0 kN/m'. After p more than 15.0, the fluid mud layer quickly transform into an ooze layer. In the fluid mud layer, the acoustic velocity c can be regarded as constant since its variation with z less than 1.5%, and a minimum vaue of c ekists when p is about 13.5 kN/m'. The variations of β with p and with frequency f are linear. Based on the geo-acoustic model and the ray theory, simulations of sound refiection from the fluid mud layers have been made, and some significallt results obtained, from which the bulk density profiles of fluld mud layers can be derived inversely.

ON ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE OF MEASURING STRUCTURE FOR CAVITATION NOISE

The acoustic performance of the structure for measuring cavitation noise is theoretically analysed, and two judging criteria of the acoustic performance of STW (sound transmission window) are presented in this paper. One is of impedance matching between working liquid and STW:ρ1C1 = ρ2C2. The other is of maximum frequency (or minimum wave length) of cavitation noise spectrum: fmax&le c/60D (or λmin/D ≥ 60). If either of the criteria is met reliable measured results of cavitation noise will be obtained. The theoretical results are verified through experiments. According to the criteria, the paper analyses the acoustic performance of routinely used plexiglass STW. The results show that in the research of clear water cavitation the impedance ratio, 2. 18, does not satisfy ρ1C1 = ρ2C2, and fmax&le C/60D hardly holds for actual cavitation noise spectrum. Therefore, plexiglass STW is not good enough for sound transmission. From this point of view, polyethylene is better sound transmission material than plexiglass.

REFLECTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF SAW BY SLANTING METAL STRIP ARRAYS

The reflective characteristics of SAW by slanting metal strips on the surface of YZ - LiNbO3 have been studied. By using both Simple Model and Multi - Reflection Model, the reflective characteristics of SAW by a periodic metal strip array and the SAW distribution in the array have been calculated. Furthermore, by using an improved laser probe, the reflective SAW field by the array has also been measured. By comparing the theoretical results with the experiments, it is shown that the results of Multi - Reflection Model, being more exact than the simple one, are in better agreement with the experiment.