Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 39C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Write the density and pressure as and , and let the small fluid velocity be the gradient of an acoustic velocity potential, . The linear homentropic acoustic equations arewhere the adiabatic sound speed of a perfect gas is . Absorbing a function of time into , the momentum equation givesEliminating and gives the acoustic wave equation
Let the shell displacement be and put , . The spherically symmetric solution regular at the centre isThe kinematic boundary condition givesSince , the pressure amplitude on the shell is thereforeThe radial Newton's second law per unit area isso its complex amplitude satisfiesFor a nonzero mode, cancellation of and multiplication by yield the frequency equation for spherically symmetric vibration of a gas-filled elastic shell:The spectrum is discrete and contains infinitely many positive solutions. Indeed, for sufficiently large , runs from to on , forcing at least one root there. These high modes are predominantly standing acoustic modes of the gas, while the lowest mode is predominantly the shell's radial breathing mode; the coupling shifts both families.