Acoustic multipole source 2026-10-06
Acoustic sources may be organized by the number of spatial derivatives in their effective wave equation forcing. A direct scalar source is an acoustic monopole, a divergence of a force density an acoustic dipole, and a double divergence of a stress tensor an acoustic quadrupole.
Compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
For a low-Mach number source with stress and advective time , the three-dimensional compact acoustic quadrupole has density amplitude , where . The power depends on these source-time and stress hypotheses, not only on the quadrupole label.
In the incompressible near field of a spherical bubble, . Its volume-flux acoustic monopole is the displayed term at retarded time. The integrated surface pressure force vanishes by spherical symmetry, while the Lighthill stress tensor approximation has moment . Its leading compact acoustic quadrupole contribution is . For small fractional radius oscillation and compactness parameter , its size relative to the leading monopole is .
Compact rotating two-blade loading source 2026-10-07
Two diametrically opposite rotating blades with equal tangential loads have zero total rotating force. Their leading compact acoustic dipoles cancel, but their retarded positions and moving-surface retarded Jacobians leave an acoustic quadrupole. For line load and angular speed , the first radiating density is . The twofold geometry gives frequency , while projection into the rotor plane gives the amplitude directivity .
Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation 2026-10-07
The Lighthill acoustic analogy for a moving body has a volume acoustic quadrupole, a surface acoustic monopole from acoustic thickness noise, and a surface acoustic dipole from acoustic loading noise. For an impermeable moving surface, with outward normal , normal surface speed , and fluid and body normal velocities equal, the surface mass coefficient is and the surface loading is the force exerted on the fluid. Schematically, the density-source equation isThe density perturbation is understood with the chosen interior extension. Permeable-surface versions have additional mass and momentum flux terms. Source approximations must distinguish local thickness radiation from cancellation of its compact net-volume contribution.
Fixed-body retarded acoustic loading formula 2026-10-14
For a fixed impermeable object, the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation has a volume acoustic quadrupole and a surface acoustic dipole, with no mass-injection term. If is the total force exerted on the fluid and the integrated Lighthill stress tensor, the acoustic compact-source approximation in the acoustic far field gives the displayed pressure at retarded time. A force convention directed onto the body reverses the loading sign. The retarded acoustic Green function carries when the wave operator is .
Lighthill stress tensor 2026-10-06
This tensor contains convective momentum flux, departure from the reference linear pressure-density relation, and viscous stress. Its double divergence is an acoustic quadrupole distribution in Lighthill acoustic analogy.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 74 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let and use for the source radius, reserving for observation distance. Incompressible spherical potential flow satisfies . Its velocity potential, tending to zero at infinity, and velocity areThe unsteady Bernoulli equation givesThe surface pressure is independent of angle. Hence the integrated surface force is zero, , and the leading compact surface dipole contribution vanishes. This also makes in the notation of the preceding part.
The volume flux is , so the acoustic thickness noise contribution isThe leading part is linear in the radial oscillation. Keeping the quadratic terms explicitly gives .
For the acoustic quadrupole, use . To leading quadratic order,ThusKeeping the instantaneous lower limit instead gives , whose leading small-oscillation term is the expression just obtained. Although the stress moment is isotropic, its contracted second derivative is not zero: .
For a sinusoidal radius perturbation , the leading compact radiation moments of a pulsating spherical bubble areWriting and , the quadrupole amplitude relative to the linear monopole is . The monopole also has a quadratic correction, ; the volume-stress quadrupole is smaller than this quadratic monopole correction by .
In the small-amplitude compact regime, the linear monopole dominates, the leading dipole is zero, and the volume quadrupole is weaker and begins at twice the oscillation frequency. The compact formulas require as well as a far observer. The stated small surface Mach number alone does not imply compactness. The incompressible near field has a decaying tail, but its stress moment is dominated by distances of order ; an acoustic matching region is still needed outside it. These are leading compact contributions, not a claim to retain every finite-wavelength correction at the smaller quadrupole order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 74 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Convolution with the retarded acoustic Green function, followed by two integrations by parts in the source coordinate, yieldsFor the acoustic compact-source approximation, replace the distance and the source retarded time by and in the leading moment. Thus the integral is , where . In the acoustic far field, each spatial derivative acts predominantly on retarded time: , where . Derivatives of and of give lower powers of . The two retarded derivatives therefore giveThis is the compact acoustic quadrupole field, retaining its angular stress projection.
For the compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling, let the source length be , typical fluctuation speed be , and typical time be . The low-Mach number stress is , so and . ConsequentlyWith the geometric ratio separated, this is the stated fourth-power dependence. It assumes an advective source time scale and compactness . An externally driven source with an independent frequency does not acquire the same Mach power automatically.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 82 1 a ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use time dependence and write the outgoing two-dimensional Helmholtz equation kernel as , where is independent of the Mach number. The harmonic Lighthill acoustic analogy givesFor a compact acoustic quadrupole, the source integral is . In the radiation region each derivative of the outgoing exponential supplies a factor of , soKeeping the same advective source-frequency scaling as in (i), and hence . Therefore the two-dimensional compact quadrupole scaling isThe changed exponent comes from cylindrical spreading . Compactness and the far-field condition are separate assumptions. At fixed imposed and fixed , with only varied, the stress instead gives an dependence; monochromaticity alone does not supply the additional source-frequency assumption.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 82 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , , and take a compactly supported Lighthill stress tensor. The isotropic term in that tensor is : the Kronecker delta is implicit in the printed shorthand. Convolving the Lighthill acoustic analogy with the retarded acoustic Green function and integrating twice by parts in the source coordinates givesThe boundary terms vanish because of compact support. For source size , the acoustic compact-source approximation requires . At , we may therefore replace the denominator by and the retarded argument by in the leading source integral. Define . In the radiation region , the leading two spatial derivatives act on the retarded time rather than on or :Thus the leading acoustic quadrupole density isFor the compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling, let be the source fluctuation speed, , and use the advective source time . With , one has and . ConsequentlyThe fourth power refers to the radiation coefficient with geometric spreading separated. It assumes that the source frequency scales as ; an independently imposed frequency or an independently strong thermal source would change that Mach number estimate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 82 1 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , so the Lighthill stress tensor is . Write and . The distributional derivative of the Heaviside step function gives . Applying the product rule a second time yields the surface sources of a discontinuous Lighthill stress tensor:Repeated indices are summed. The first line gives the two bulk acoustic quadrupole distributions. The second line consists of additional surface delta distributions and their derivatives, all supported on the shock wave . For a symmetric Lighthill stress tensor, the first two coefficients of combine to after relabelling indices.
A discontinuity therefore adds both a surface-delta source and a surface-delta-derivative source. The level function need not be a signed distance: retaining its derivatives makes the expression invariant under a smooth reparametrization of the same surface. If the two bulk fields are only continuously differentiable, their second derivatives in the first line are read weakly; no classical second derivative is being assumed. The coefficients multiplying are kept as extensions, not replaced prematurely by traces.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 88 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , and . Convolving the source terms in the Lighthill acoustic analogy with the retarded acoustic Green function, and moving their spatial derivatives outside the integral, givesThe integrals have compact spatial support. For an acoustically compact source, its size satisfies , so the source-dependent retardation is negligible at leading order. Also take . Define and . In the radiation terms the spatial derivatives act on , with . Derivatives of produce smaller near-field terms. Thus the far-field acoustic force and stress moments giveUsing gives the equivalent powers of requested. The force term is an acoustic dipole; the Lighthill stress tensor produces an acoustic quadrupole.
For a small body in low-speed flow, put . A typical unsteady force has size and time scale , whereas . ThereforeThese are the acoustic dipole Mach-number scaling and compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling. Since and outgoing acoustic intensity is of order , their sound powers scale asThus an unsteady force on the body can produce the dominant low-Mach number sound. If the integrated force or its time derivative vanishes, that dipole contribution is absent. Force on the body and force on the fluid have opposite signs.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 78 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let use the Heaviside step function, and , so that points from the body into the fluid. The kinematic boundary condition gives on the surface. In the exterior, mass conservation and the Euler equations for an inviscid fluid areProducts with are understood distributionally, using and . With , the extended continuity equation isThe corresponding extended momentum equation isbecause its advective surface term is . Differentiate continuity in time and substitute the divergence of momentum. Subtracting gives the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equationwhere the inviscid Lighthill stress tensor isIf denotes total pressure, this tensor includes the constant ambient pressure . Its contribution cancels the corresponding surface term exactly. For radiation integrals it is convenient to subtract from both terms, making with . The displayed source identity is unchanged by this consistent pressure-gauge subtraction.
Assume no incoming sound and no free initial acoustic field. Put , , , and . Convolution with the retarded acoustic Green function gives the three source integrals, for an observer outside the body:These are the surface thickness, surface loading and volume quadrupole contributions. The retarded surface Dirac delta distributions must remain inside the integrals: integrating them over a moving retarded surface produces the moving-surface retarded Jacobian, and is not generally the same as simply substituting one retarded time into an instantaneous surface integral.
For an acoustic compact-source approximation, suppose the dominant sources have size , source frequency scale , and . Also require and the acoustic far field . Then , , and the leading source integrals use the common time . Slow source motion relative to is implicit in this leading retardation approximation. DefineThus is net displaced mass per unit time, is the fluid pressure force on the body, and is the integrated excess Lighthill stress tensor. The minus sign in fixes the requested loading convention; the force on the fluid is opposite. On the radiating terms, , givingSpatial derivatives of produce near-field terms of orders and , omitted here. Neglecting source delays is a separate approximation from discarding those observer near-field terms. If a leading integrated source vanishes by symmetry, its first nonzero delay correction can be as important as another retained multipole.
For the translating sphere, write its center as , with a unit vector, and its velocity as . Let , and . Impermeability gives . Since its volume is constant,in the leading compact formula. The individual local thickness sources have scale , but their net monopole cancels.
At first order in amplitude and leading order in , the exterior incompressible velocity potential is , where is measured from the mean center. It has at . Linear Bernoulli equation gives there. Since ,This is the added mass of a sphere. The explicit leading loading contribution isIt scales as . In homentropic small-amplitude flow the volume stress is quadratic to leading order, over volume , so the volume acoustic quadrupole has scaleIt is smaller than the linear dipole by and can contain a second harmonic.
For completeness, the exact thickness-source integral has a nonzero first delay correction even though . Its first spatial moment isExpand its integrand at . The leading nonzero translating-sphere acoustic thickness dipole is thereforeIt too scales as . Thus zero net-volume monopole does not mean zero thickness radiation. The full leading linear sound, summing thickness and loading, isThe leading compact equation gives the requested zero and added-mass terms; this extra delay calculation is necessary to obtain the complete linear field when its nominal monopole has cancelled.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 78 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let the fluid approach a uniform, quiescent state at infinity. Use the outward unit normal vector , pointing from the object into the fluid. Write for the Heaviside step function, , and . With the viscous stress tensor , defineThus is the Lighthill stress tensor, and is the surface loading exerted on the fluid. The total force on the object has the opposite sign. Extend by zero inside the object. Since the boundary is fixed and impermeable, , and the distributional mass conservation and momentum conservation equations areFor example, the surface contribution to the momentum equation is . Differentiating the first equation in time and subtracting the divergence of the second gives the fixed-body Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation:There is no acoustic thickness noise: a fixed impermeable boundary injects no mass. Apply the retarded acoustic Green function , where . The supplied surface-delta identity converts the loading term to a surface integral. For an exterior observer, the required integral equation isThis acoustic analogy is an exact rearrangement of the fluid equations; source approximations enter later. In the distant linear acoustic region, .
The acoustic far field requires observer distance much larger than the source extent and , so derivatives of the retarded phase dominate derivatives of . The acoustic compact-source approximation requires , so the source's differential propagation delays can be neglected. These conditions concern different lengths and neither implies the other. Put , , and define the loading and stress momentsThe leading compact acoustic far field isThe surface term is an acoustic dipole; the volume term is an acoustic quadrupole. The plus sign of the loading term follows from the minus sign of its spatial divergence and the derivative of retarded time.
For the power comparison, assume low Mach number , high Reynolds number, eddy size , characteristic time , and stress magnitude . Keep the prescribed turbulent region and its leading volume stress comparable when inserting the object; neglect changes of source statistics and exceptional cancellations of the leading moments. Compactness follows from . Since and the outgoing acoustic intensity is , the volume power isIf the object's size is comparable to and its fluctuating resultant loading is , thenAngular factors and dimensionless loading coefficients have been omitted. The acoustic dipole and acoustic quadrupole interference vanishes in the leading power integrated over a full sphere, by odd angular parity; individual directions can show interference.
A size threshold also requires a loading model. For a small nonseparating object of size in an approximately inviscid, smoothly varying incident eddy, a spatially uniform pressure has zero resultant on its closed surface. The first surviving loading is the pressure-gradient or added mass force, . Under these explicitly stated assumptions,The two mechanisms become comparable at ; for smaller objects the cases with and without the object have the same leading order of power. This is the small-body loading-noise threshold. It is not a geometry-independent size law: a separated drag force fluctuating on the original eddy time instead gives and . If both force and time are set by body-scale eddies, , their loading power is and comparison with the original volume source gives . Each estimate states which source time and force it uses.
The physical distinction is momentum conservation. Unforced turbulence in a fluid supplies internal stresses, whose net-force contribution cancels and leaves acoustic quadrupole radiation. The supported object exchanges momentum with the fluid and the external support, permitting a time-dependent resultant force and acoustic dipole radiation. One fewer retarded derivative makes the loading radiation more efficient at low Mach number.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation, the other source types are a surface acoustic monopole associated with acoustic thickness noise, and a volume acoustic quadrupole involving the Lighthill stress tensor. On an impermeable material surface, fluid and surface normal velocities agree. There is no through-surface mass-flux source; the remaining thickness source is . For a rigid body, the leading acoustic compact-source approximation to that source hasThus there is no leading net-volume acoustic monopole. To neglect thickness radiation beyond that leading cancellation, assume negligible volume displacement, as for ideal thin blades, or that its higher multipoles are small compared with the retained acoustic loading noise. Rigidity alone does not make a moving finite-volume body's local thickness source identically zero.
The volume acoustic quadrupole may be neglected for low Mach number motion when exterior turbulent or nonlinear stresses do not provide a competing strong source. We also assume small linear acoustics perturbations, a uniform reference sound speed, and negligible relevant viscous and entropy sources. These are source-strength approximations, particularly important if a loading contribution itself cancels by symmetry. Under them, the retained acoustic dipole is the force exerted by the object on the fluid, with the sign used in the previous solution.
Let , , and . In the acoustic far field, is large compared with the object and . For a source of size with and small surface Mach number, source-dependent delays and the Doppler factor can be neglected to leading order. The surface integral then contains just the total force . Differentiating its retarded time, rather than its spreading factor, gives the radiating termThe sign follows from . Differentiating or the direction instead produces the lower-order near field. A constant total force does not radiate at this leading compact order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Write and , where . Label the two arms by . Their positions are . To radiating far-field accuracy,The retarded time equation therefore gives, with ,For the first arm, , this is the requested phase expansion. The more explicit geometric error also makes the dimensional meaning of the printed term clear.
Apply the Taylor theorem to the rotating line force. Since , its first two orders, expressed in a common reference frame, areAlso , so the radial Mach number isThe absolute value causes no change of sign in this subsonic limit. Multiplying these two expansions before summing is essential: both the shifted force and the moving-surface retarded Jacobian contribute at the same order.
Denote the integrated numerator, including that Jacobian, by . Pairing the two blades cancels all terms odd in , including the first Doppler correction to the axial load. HenceThe factor comes from . Only the time-dependent term radiates at order . Applying to the integral now gives , and thusThere are also nonradiating terms of order . Multiply by for the acoustic pressure. The stated coefficient uses the rotation convention fixed above; reversing the rotation reverses the corresponding signed load and phase convention.
This is a compact rotating two-blade loading source acting as an acoustic quadrupole. The compact total rotating force cancels, leaving the first spatial moment of the loading. Its two factors of the observer's projection into the rotor plane produce : there is no leading sound on the rotation axis and the density amplitude is maximal in the rotor plane. The configuration repeats after half a rotation, explaining frequency . These statements concern amplitude; the corresponding acoustic intensity has a factor.
If , the displayed first-order contribution vanishes as well. For completeness, expanding the axial Jacobian to its next even order givesThe first remaining axial-load radiation is thenThus the constant axial total force does not produce the lower-order term, even though its moving spatial distribution can radiate at a higher order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 75 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An acoustic analogy is an exact rearrangement of the fluid equations into a chosen linear propagation operator acting on an acoustic variable, with everything left over placed on the right as effective forcing. The rearrangement becomes a sound-prediction method only after a reference medium, boundary conditions and approximations to the forcing are specified. In particular, a right-hand-side term need not represent independently generated sound.
Use Einstein summation convention and write . Differentiating the continuity equation in time and taking the divergence of the momentum equation eliminates :Set and . Since , the constant has zero Laplacian. The prescribed reference mass density and reference speed of sound are independent of time, soCombining the two identities givesOnly conservation of mass and conservation of momentum have been used; no equation of state or energy equation was needed. Spatial variation of creates no omitted derivative in this identity, because it multiplies a time derivative. The double divergence of the momentum flux tensor has the structure of an acoustic quadrupole.
For a localized flow, choose the reference fields to match the stationary surrounding medium: and outside the flow, with chosen so there. A uniform surrounding fluid permits ambient constant mass density and adiabatic sound speed, giving the familiar homogeneous wave equation. A nonuniform surrounding fluid calls for its actual stationary reference profiles, extended sensibly through the flow region. This makes the acoustic variable vanish in the unperturbed exterior and minimizes artificial contrast terms. In a uniform isentropic exterior the leading acoustic relation also makes vanish to first order. In a stratified exterior, propagation and entropy-advection effects can remain in , as the next part demonstrates.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 77 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , , and let the source have size . The retarded acoustic Green function gives the outgoing solution of Lighthill acoustic analogy asThis follows by integrating the source derivatives by parts in the retarded convolution. Assume the source is localized and the boundary terms vanish. In the acoustic compact-source approximation, , the retardation across the source can be neglected, while permits replacement of the denominator by . The integral becomes .
In the radiation region , derivatives of the retarded argument dominate derivatives of the spreading factor. Since , the leading acoustic quadrupole field isThe two negative retardation derivatives give a positive sign. This is a far-field approximation, with smaller near-field terms omitted.
For low-Mach number aerodynamic fluctuations of speed and advective time , take , , and two time derivatives of order . ThereforeThe quoted fourth power is the compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling, with geometric spreading shown explicitly. It assumes the source strength and time scale just stated; the source must be acoustically compact, and the observation point must remain in the radiation region.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 77 1 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Apply the moving-interface conservation jump identity first to mass, then to each momentum component. Write and , with all quantities understood piecewise on the two sides. Define the jumps of flux relative to the moving shock wave byThe global distributional conservation equations areDifferentiate the first in time and subtract the divergence of the second. With and the piecewise Lighthill stress tensor , this givesDerivatives act on the complete distributions, including their moving support. The acoustic quadrupole term represents momentum-stress fluctuations throughout the volume. The time derivative of the surface mass-flux defect is an acoustic monopole, representing injection or removal of mass/volume. The divergence of the surface momentum-flux defect is an acoustic dipole, representing a force sheet. This is the distributional acoustic analogy across a moving interface.
For an actual freely propagating fluid shock wave with no singular mass or momentum supply, the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions give and . Such a shock does not acquire independent monopole and force-sheet sources merely because it is discontinuous. Its effects remain in the distributional derivatives of , including singular derivatives of its jump. Nonzero surface sources are appropriate for an interface with exchange/forcing or for a formulation that omits one side of the fluid.
A shock does not, by itself, justify retaining the scaling. That estimate required a low-Mach number stress varying on the slow time . Fast shock motion, short time scales, or thermodynamic deviations can invalidate that estimate. If these same compact, slow-source assumptions remain valid for the integrated Lighthill stress tensor, its quadrupole estimate still follows, even distributionally. There is no universal replacement power deducible from the mere presence of a shock; nor should vanished physical flux defects be treated as additional independent radiation sources.