Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2001 / iii / Paper 50 / 5 / a

Use the conservative continuity equation and momentum balance, with ${\sigma }_{ij}$ the viscous stress:Differentiate the first equation in time and take the divergence of the second. Eliminating momentum givesSubtract $c_0^2\Delta \rho$, 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 $\ell$ to satisfy $\Omega \ell /c_0\ll 1$ for its characteristic frequency $\Omega$; the acoustic far field additionally requires $r\gg \ell$ and $\Omega r/c_0\gg 1$. Internal retardation is then negligible at leading order, and the radiating parts of the two observer derivatives act on the common retarded time. With $n_i=x_i/r$ and $S_{ij}=\int T_{ij}{d}^{3}y$, the far-field acoustic force and stress moments giveThe two spatial derivatives supply two factors of $1/c_0$, in addition to the $1/c_0^2$ in the Green function.

For a subsonic fluctuating source of velocity scale $V$, size $\ell$ and turnover time $\ell /V$, suppose its stress scale is $T_{ij}=O({\rho }_0{V}^2)$. Then $S_{ij}=O({\rho }_0{V}^2{\ell }^3)$ and ${\ddot{S}}_{ij}=O({\rho }_0{V}^4\ell )$. 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 $V^2{\Omega }^2{\ell }^3/c_0^{4}r$.