Chapter 7: Reflection, transmission and standing waves

When considering incident sound from medium 1, the sound energy that is transmitted into
medium 2 can be regarded as absorbed by medium 2. A very central concept in acoustics
that describes the absorbing ability of a medium or a boundary is the absorption factor ..
The absorption factor is defined as

W t Wi W r
W
=
= 1 r
Wi
Wi
Wi

(7-27)

where Wi is the incident sound pressure, Wr is the reflected sound pressure and Wt is the
transmitted sound power. Because the power can be expressed as W = Ix S, where S is the
area and I is the intensity, which can be expressed as I = ~
p 2 / c according to (4-83),
0

the absorption factor can be expressed as

= 1+

7.1.3

I x,r
I x ,i

= 1

p r2
p i2

= 1 R

(7-28)

Propagation of plane waves in a three-dimensional space

Before analyzing the oblique incidence of a wave against a boundary, we consider how a
wave can be described when its direction of propagation doesnt coincide with a
coordinate axis. For sound propagation in the positive x-direction in a Cartesian coordinate
system, (4-69) implies that
p( x , t ) = p e i (t kx) ,

(7-29)

where the (prime) symbol is used to distinguish that coordinate system from coming
systems.
W av e fron ts

y
Figure 7-5 Plane wave propagation in the
positive x-direction. The wave
fronts are surfaces joining points
with identical phase.

ey'

ex'

To describe multi-dimensi onal propagation, an unprimed coordinate system is introduced.

In that system, for simplicity, we begin by studying the propagation in the xy-plane, in
order to then generalize to three dimensions. The primed system has been rotated through
an angle 1 about the z-axis relative to the unprimed, as shown in figure 7-6.

209

Chapter 7: Reflection, transmission and standing waves

Wave fronts
y

y
Figure 7-6 Plane wave propagation
described in two coordinate systems.
One has been rotated through an angle
1 about the z-axis.

Ge

Ge G
y e

Gr

Ge

In a so-called orthogonal transformation, the description

can be transformed from the
G
primed to the unprimed system. The position vector r to a point on the x-axis is indicated
in the respective coordinate systems as
G
G
G
G
(7-30)
r = x e x = xe x + ye y
i.e.,

G G
G G
x = xe x e x + ye x e y ,

(7-31)

G G
G G
where ei e j = cos(ei , e j ) in the transformation theory are usually called transformation
G
G
coefficients, and are cosines of the angles between the base vectors ei and e j . The

expression (7-31) can also be stated in the form

x = x cos 1 + y cos(90 D 1 ) = x cos 1 + y sin 1 ,

(7-32)

and (7-29) transforms in the unprimed system to

p( x, y, t ) = p e i (t kx cos 1 ky sin 1 ) .
(7-33)
G
To further generalize the discussion, a unit vector n is introduced to designate the
direction of propagation; it is expressed the respective coordinate systems as
G G
G
G
n = e x = n x e x + n y e y .
(7-34)

G G
G G
From (7-34), applying the orthogonality relations e x e x = 1 and e x e y = 0 , it follows

that
G G
G G
n x = e x e x = cos(e x , e x ) = cos 1 ,

(7-35)

G G
G G
n y = e x e y = cos(e x , e y ) = sin 1 .

(7-36)

The wave number vector is defined as

G
G
k =k n,

210

(7-37)

Chapter 7: Reflection, transmission and standing waves

G
with a magnitude k = /c, and a direction n identical to the direction of propagation; it
can be expressed as
G
G
G
G
G
k = k (n x e x + n y e y ) = k cos 1 e x + k sin 1 e y .
(7-38)
Thus, the components of the wave number vector, i.e., its x and y-axis projections, are

k x = k cos 1 ,
k y = k sin 1 ,

(7-39)
(7-40)

respectively, and we conclude that the most general form of the solution becomes
G

or in component form

G
G
p( r , t ) = p e i (t k r ) ,

(7-41)

G
i (t k x x k y y )
p( r , t ) = p e
.

(7-42)

In three dimensions, it follows by analogous logic that

G

G
G
i (t k x x k y y k z z )
r
p(r , t ) = p e i (t k ) = p e

where

G G
k r = constant,

(7-43)
(7-44)

constitute surfaces of constant phase. Entering (7-43) into the wave equation (4-43)
2 p
x 2

provides the condition

2 p
y 2

2 p
z 2

1 2 p

(7-45)

c 2 t 2

k = k = = kx2 + k y2 + k z2
c

(7-46)

That condition is an important relation that will be utilized in the discussion that follows.

7.1.4

Oblique incidence on a boundary between two fluid media

In order to analyze what happens when a plane acoustic wave with a certain angle of incidence i reaches the bounding surface between two fluid media, it is necessary to
supplement the types of boundary conditions used up to this point. These boundary
conditions, which require continuity of pressure and particle velocity across the boundary
surface, are supplemented with the condition that the incident, reflected, and transmitted
waves have the same periodicity along the boundary surface, i.e., the plane x = 0 in figure
7-7.

211

Comment [UC1]
(4-43)