For a small body of size in flow of speed , force of order varying on time produces an acoustic dipole density amplitude of the displayed order, where is the Mach number. Its sound power scales as . The corresponding compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling has density amplitude of order and power .
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 gives
Subtract , and define the Lighthill stress tensor by
The constant reference subtraction has no double divergence. The exact Lighthill acoustic analogy is
This 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 gives
The 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 give
The 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 therefore
This 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 .
Convolution with the retarded acoustic Green function, followed by two integrations by parts in the source coordinate, yields
For 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 give
This 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 . Consequently
With 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.
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 gives
The 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 is
For the compact acoustic quadrupole Mach-number scaling, let be the source fluctuation speed, , and use the advective source time . With , one has and . Consequently
The 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.
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, gives
The 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 give
Using 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 . Therefore
These 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 as
Thus 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.
Let , , and let the source have size . The retarded acoustic Green function gives the outgoing solution of Lighthill acoustic analogy as
This 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 is
The 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 . Therefore
The 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.