The fixed upper and lower walls have zero normal velocity. Since , their no-penetration boundary conditions areFor the moving end wall, use its level-set equation . The kinematic boundary condition gives the exact impermeability relationBoth and are first order, so their product is second order. A Taylor expansion from to changes the first-order perturbation velocity only at second order as well. ThusAt infinity, select a bounded response with no waves incident from . A propagating acoustic waveguide mode must satisfy the outgoing radiation condition for a waveguide mode, while a nonpropagating mode must decay. For a time dependence , a propagating axial factor has the form , , and obeys . An evanescent factor is , .
Requiring for all frequencies would incorrectly exclude the radiated traveling waves. In this lossless channel they retain finite amplitude arbitrarily far downstream.
Past exam of the theoretical mechanics course of the University of Oxford 2008 B 6 Solution 2026-10-31
Rigid walls require zero normal velocity, so at and at . Separation of variables gives spatial modes , for nonnegative integers . The wave equation therefore givesThe spatially constant mode has zero frequency and is not an ordinary positive-frequency acoustic oscillation.
A spatially uniform boundary forcing excites the transverse mode. Put . Then and , hence . The condition fixes and givesArbitrary free oscillations can be superposed. The denominator vanishes at longitudinal resonances. Near them the lossless steady harmonic response ceases to be a uniformly small-amplitude approximation; damping from viscosity, heat transfer or wall losses regularizes the response, and large amplitudes can require nonlinear equations of motion or a more accurate moving-boundary model. At exact resonance a switched-on ideal forcing produces secular growth rather than a bounded harmonic particular solution.
For the semi-infinite duct expand . Each axial mode hasFor a propagating mode a particular solution is ; differentiating at zero gives the prescribed . A nonzero higher transverse coefficient propagates when .
The outgoing radiation condition selects , its positive axial group velocity. Thus . This sign is selected by the absence of waves incident from infinity, not by the differential equation alone. If has a nonzero mean, its component can propagate even below every higher-mode cutoff.