Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/iii/paper-50/5/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 50 5 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the conservative continuity equation and momentum balance, with the viscous stress:Differentiate the first equation in time and take the divergence of the second. Eliminating momentum givesSubtract , and define the Lighthill stress tensor byThe constant reference subtraction has no double divergence. The exact Lighthill acoustic analogy isThis is an exact rearrangement; linearization is not used to eliminate the nonlinear source tensor.
Convolving with the retarded acoustic Green function and transferring the source derivatives by integration by parts givesThe acoustic compact-source approximation requires source size to satisfy for its characteristic frequency ; the acoustic far field additionally requires and . Internal retardation is then negligible at leading order, and the radiating parts of the two observer derivatives act on the common retarded time. With and , the far-field acoustic force and stress moments giveThe two spatial derivatives supply two factors of , in addition to the in the Green function.
For a subsonic fluctuating source of velocity scale , size and turnover time , suppose its stress scale is . Then and . The compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling is thereforeThis fourth-power statement concerns the acoustic density amplitude under the specified eddy-time and stress scaling. With an independently imposed frequency, the general estimate instead retains .
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