Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the Fourier transform pair , . The point force transforms to . With the dispersion relation defined above, the sheet equation becomesThe point-force radiation from a fluid-loaded sheet is therefore represented exactly byThe causal contour and outgoing acoustic square-root branch are fixed first with , then continued to the desired real frequency. This prescription fixes how poles and the branch points are passed.
For the acoustic far field , , take bounded away from grazing and . The method of steepest descent saddle point is , with . The supplied saddle point rule, including its factor, gives, provided the contour deformation crosses no poles,A convenient simplification, free of division by , isEquivalently, when ,The expression printed in the PDF is missing sound-speed factors for general dimensional . It agrees with this result if in fully normalized units; when is retained as an arbitrary sound speed, the numerator needs and the structural term needs in the last form. These factors arise respectively from cylindrical spreading, the pressure-density relation, and .
A direct countercheck is the transparent-sheet limit . The sheet jump condition then gives , so the saddle point rule requiresThe printed expression, interpreted continuously after multiplying out its structural factor, instead gives times the same phase. It differs by a factor ; for example it is eight times too large when . This limit also verifies the normalization of the corrected density field independently of the sheet's elastic-sheet tension.
To decide about poles, track the roots of on the chosen square-root sheet and deform the original causal contour to the steepest descent contour. A root contributes a residue exactly when it lies in the region swept out by that deformation; its sign is fixed by the contour orientation. Branch cuts must be retained throughout this comparison. Which roots are crossed can depend on observation angle, producing a change of the modal contribution when a pole meets the deformation boundary. A saddle point approaching a pole or a grazing endpoint requires an approximation uniform in that limit, rather than the isolated saddle point formula above.
The crossed poles are the free fluid-sheet modes of the preceding solution. Real subsonic roots represent evanescent acoustic surface waves carrying energy along the sheet, with normal decay; complex continuations represent leaky or radiating modes. Their residues must be added to the saddle point sound when the causal contour selects them. The specification “no poles contribute” is therefore a substantive condition on the contour, not permission to ignore zeros of the dispersion relation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 40B b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Takeand define the positive normal decay rateThe decaying solutions of the acoustic wave equation that satisfy the kinematic conditions areTheir pressures at the membrane areSubstitution into the dynamic boundary condition givesand hence the acoustic wave on a tensioned massive membrane dispersion relation
Writing the phase speed as , the positive added-inertia term givesPhysically, each evanescent acoustic surface wave accelerates a layer of fluid on both sides of the membrane, so the inertia per unit area exceeds . Moreover,and the added mass of an evanescent fluid layer diverges as . In that limit , so and