The effect of large openings on cavity amplification at ultrasonic frequencies

It is sometimes desired to exploit acoustic amplification in a cavity that is not entirely enclosed. Because of the presence of openings in the cavity, acoustic energy will leave the cavity and degrade the degree of amplification. The extent of this problem is unknown when the size of the openings becomes large relative to a wavelength. The present paper describes a quantitative estimation of the effect of large openings on the amplification performance of an acoustic cavity. Air was assumed to be the working medium. The amplification taking place in a rigid-walled rectangular channel excited by a transducer flush-mounted in one wall was compared to the amplification that would take place in a bounded rectangular resonator excited by the same transducer. It was found, for frequencies in the range 25 kHz-1 MHz, that source ka's greater than 37 and 42 were required in order for the collimation of the transducer beam to overcome the leakage of acoustic energy through the openings for one- and two-half wavelength resonances, respectively. Experimental measurements conducted over source ka's ranging from 6.5 to 26.1, resulted in quality factors 8%-18% lower than theoretically predicted values for one-, two-, and three-half wavelength resonances.