High Power Ultrasound Sources

Design, construction and characterization of high
power ultrasound sources

Sren Hartmann Kristensen
December 21, 2009
Abstract
In this Masters thesis several areas of designing, constructing and characterizing
high power ultrasonic sources are investigated.
An ultrasonic source, consisting of a prefabricated Langevin transducer and a
mechanical horn designed and constructed for this project, is used for experimental
validation of design simulations. The horn has a mounting plate for easy mounting
of the joined ultrasonic source. Using this horn several experiments is carried out,
including a successful attempt to levitate polystyrene balls and water drops.
To be able to characterize the vibrational pattern of radiation plates, an optical
setup, based on the theory of speckle interferometry, is used. Using this setup, it is
possible to visualize nodal lines on the vibrating surfaces of radiation plates.
The investigation of the design parameters, as well as investigation of the behavior and radiation or radiation plates, is done trough simulations in Comsol Multiphysics. To achieve accurate material parameters, Youngs modulus is measured for
the material used to design the mechanical horn for the source.
Abstrakt p
a dansk
I dette speciale er flere felter indenfor design, konstruktion og karakterisering af
hjeffekt ultralydskilder undersgt.
En ultralydskilde, sammensat af en prfabrikeret Langevin transducer og et
mekanisk horn designet og konstrueret til dette projekt, er brugt i eksperimentelle
valideringer af design simuleringer. Hornet har en monteringsplade for let montering
af den samlede ultralydskilde. Ved brug af dette horn er flere eksperimenter udfrt,
bl.a. et succesfuld forsg p
a at levitere polystyrenkugler og vanddr
aber.
For at kunne karakterisere vibrationsmnsteret for udstr
alingsplader, er en optisk
opstilling, baseret p
a teorien om speckle interferometri, brugt. Ved hjlp af denne
opstilling, er det muligt at visualisere nodallinier p
a den vibrerende overflade af
udstr
alingspladerne.
Undersgelsen af designparametre, s
a vel som undersgelsen af udstr
alingspladernes
opfrsel og udstr
aling, er udfrt vha. simuleringer i Comsol Multiphysics. For at
opn
a prcise materialeparametre, er Youngs modul m
alt for det materiale som er
brugt i designet af det mekaniske horn til kilden.
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 The structure of high power ultrasonic transducers
1.1.1 The Langevin transducer . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.2 Mechanical horns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.3 Radiation plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Objective of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1
1
1
3
3
4
5
2 Theory
2.1 Vibrations in bars with circular cross section
2.1.1 Longitudinal vibrations . . . . . . . .
2.1.2 Transversal bending waves vibrations
2.1.3 Torsional vibrations . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4 Radial vibrations . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Radiation from a circular piston . . . . . . .
2.3 Vibrating discs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Simulation in Comsol Multiphysics . . . . .
2.4.1 Axisymmetric simulations . . . . . .
2.4.2 Simulations types . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4.3 Simulation of coupled physics . . . .
2.4.4 Simulation conclusion . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Acoustic levitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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6
6
6
7
9
10
10
12
13
13
14
15
15
17
3 Effect of mechanical horn shapes

3.1 Conical horns . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Exponential horns . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Stepped horns . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.1 Nodal position in stepped horn
3.4 Resonance frequencies for horn types .
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18
18
20
24
24
25
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4 Design of stepped horn for Langevin transducer based ultrasonic

source
4.1 Work flow stepped horn design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Mounting plate and transition effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.2 Mounting plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 Radiation from a stepped horn with no radiation plate . . . . . . . .
28
28
30
30
32
33
4.4
Stepped horn designed for practical experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5 Experimental validation
5.1 Test of assembled sources . . . .
5.2 Frequency analysis of horn . . .
5.3 Error analysis . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1 Simulation model errors
5.3.2 Error analysis conclusion
5.4 Sensitivity analysis of sources .
5.5 Acoustic levitation test . . . . .
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6 Radiation plate assessments

6.1 Node detection using talcum powder . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Visualization of radiation plate displacement pattern
interferometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Radiation plate simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3.1 Vibration pattern of brass disc . . . . . . . . .
6.3.2 Sound radiation from radiation plates . . . . .
6.4 Radiation plate conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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36
36
38
39
39
42
43
45
48
. . . . . . . . . 48
using speckle
. . . . . . . . . 49
. . . . . . . . . 50
. . . . . . . . . 51
. . . . . . . . . 51
. . . . . . . . . 55
7 Conclusions and Future Work

57
7.1 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.2 Further work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Appendices
61
A Measuring Youngs Modulus of Aluminum bars
61
B Optical experiment for vibrational displacement patterns
68
C Data sheet for Langevin transducer
71
D Data sheet for aluminum EN AW 2011
73
E Work sketch of designed horn
75
F Equipment list
77
G CD containing the thesis and videos of levitation experiments
78
Bibliography
79
Preface
For this project several people has contributed with knowledge and practical help,
for which thy deserve thanks. First I would like to thank Associate Professor Rene
Skov at University of Southern Denmark (SDU) for his kind help with the optical
setup used in the project. Thanks also goes to the mechanical workshop at SDU
for teaching me how to use a metalworking lathe and for their help with practical
metalwork. I would also like to thank my advisor Arturo Santillan, for his help with
the acoustic levitation experiments and for sharing his knowledge of the subjects
covered in this thesis.
Table of symbols
Symbol Description
ca
cL
cT
0

E
G
f
D
S
w
W
x
L
A
p
v
k
U
Robj
F
Z
1
kAk
ai
Unit
Speed of sound in air

m/s
Propagation speed of longitudinal vibration
m/s
Propagation speed of torsional vibration
m/s
Density
kg/m3
Density of air
kg/m3
Strain
Youngs modulus, modulus of elasticity
Pa
Shear modulus
Pa
Poissons ratio
Frequency
Hz
Diameter
m
Surface area
m2
Displacement
m
Displacement amplitude
m
Distance
m
Length
m
Amplification gain
Pressure
Pa
Surface/particle velocity
m/s
Wavelength
m
Angular frequency = 2f
rad/s
Wavenumber k = /c
m1
Gorkov potential
Radius of levitated object
m
Force
N
N
Mechanical impedance
m/s
Subscript 1, naming for input- or wider part of mechanical horns
Subscript 2, naming for output- or narrower part of mechanical horns
Change in e.g. frequency = |f2 f1 |
Euclidean norm of errors
Individual error
Chapter 1
Introduction
In this thesis some of the aspects of designing a high power ultrasonic source is
described. These aspects include the structure of such sources, design aspects in
constructing an efficient source, characterization of the such sources and measurements of the performance of a source.
The term ultrasonic sources means a source that radiates sound with frequencies
above the human hearing range, normally said to be 20kHz (though most people
cannot hear that high frequencies). Ultrasound has many practical applications [1]
ranging from chemical such as large scale treatment of gasses [24] over medical
such as wound healing and ultrasonic imaging, to industry applications like welding
and cleaning. Some of these applications demand a very high sound pressure to be
produced, thus needing a high power ultrasonic source.
In this chapter the structure of a typical hight power ultrasonic transducer is outlined and the objective for the thesis is stated. Furthermore the naming conventions
used in the thesis are described.
1.1
The structure of high power ultrasonic transducers
This section contains a short review the elements that are normally combined to
build high power ultrasonic sources.
High power ultrasonic transducers are widely build on basis of a Langevin transducer, coupled to a mechanical horn, providing a velocity amplification, and with a
radiation plate to increase the sound radiating surface of the source, and there by
enabling the source to deliver a higher sound pressure.
The elements of a typical ultrasound transducer can be seen in figure 1.1.
1.1.1
The Langevin transducer
The Langevin transducer is a mechanical vibration source invented by the French

physicist Paul Langevin at the end of world war one [5]. The transducer was first
build as part of an ultrasonic submarine detector and consisted of a piezo electric
element sandwiched between two metal parts. When electrical voltage is applied
to the piezo elements, they expand or contract depending on the polarization of
Figure 1.1 - The elements of a typical ultrasonic transducer
the voltage. This expansion (or contraction) is very strong and reliable, and can
therefore be used to drive mechanical vibrations in metal parts that are attached to
the piezo elements.
A Langevin transducer usually consist of an even number of piezo elements sandwiched between two metal blocks. By designing the metal blocks attached to the
piezo elements to be /4 longitudinal resonators with the same resonance frequency,
the combined transducer will be a /2 longitudinal resonator in balance, having
mirrored vibrations on the two sides of the piezo elements. Using this technique,
the Langevin transducer can produce a very strong vibrations on the surface of the
metal blocks.
A sketch of a typical Langevin transducer arrangement can be seen in figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 - Setup of a Langevin type transducer
The metal blocks in a Langevin transducer are usually made from aluminum
and/of steel. An asymmetric design with one steel and one aluminum block can be
used, but in that case the blocks should not have the same physical length, but the
same Acoustical length, meaning the length with which the /4 resonance has the
same frequency.
Much research is done to optimize the characteristics of Langevin transducers
this is described in e.g. [6, 7].
For this project a Langevin transducer from the Swiss company M.P. Interconsulting has been used. The transducer has the type number MPI-3025F-30H, a
diameter of D = 30mm and a resonance frequency of f = 29.9kHz. The transducer

can be seen in figure 1.2.
Figure 1.3 - Langevin transducer used in this project
1.1.2
Mechanical horns
Mechanical horns is a means of amplifying mechanical vibrations. In ultrasonic

sources for a variety of applications, mechanical horns are used to maximize the
vibrational amplitude the source can produce. This amplification is described in
greater detain in a later chapter, but can intuitively be understood by a conservation
of momentum example: Consider a free-free bar vibrating at a /2 longitudinal
resonance. The ends vibrate in the longitudinal direction while there at the middle
of the bar is a node. If one end of the bar is lighter than the other, this end will
vibrate more, since the conservation of momentum applies. Hereby there will be an
amplification of the vibration from the wider heavier end of the horn to the narrower
lighter end.
In section 3 the shape and theoretical performance of different horn types are
described in greater detail and investigated though Comsol simulations.
With the Langevin transducer bought for this project came a mechanical horn
meant to be the coupling to additional tools which can be attached using a threaded
hole in the front of the supplied horn. This horn will be referenced to as the Swiss
horn due to the origin of the company producing the Transducer-horn combination.
The Swiss horn can be seen in figure 1.4
1.1.3
Radiation plates
Radiation plates attached to the mechanical horn of a ultrasonic transducer is a

means of achieving different acoustic radiation properties, than the often small surface of the horn would facilitate. By using a plane radiation plate with radius larger
than the horn end, the surface area of the transducer can be increased causing a
greater volume velocity and thereby greater sound pressure radiation, than the horn
surface alone would produce. This principle is used in e.g. [8]. Furthermore special
shapes of radiation plates can be designed to produce a sound field suitable for cer-
Figure 1.4 - Swiss horn provided by the manufacturer of the Langevin transducer. Also seen is the screw used for connecting the horn and
Langevin transducer into a ultrasonic source
tain applications of the source. Such special designs of radiation plates can be seen
in [3, 4, 9].
An example of a radiation plate with a special design is described in [9] where a
radiation plate with special groves improves the acoustic power of the source. The
source in [9] is designed to process large volumes of gas.
A way of changing the sound field radiated by a source is to make a flexural
radiation plate that does not vibrate in a piston-like fashion. This type of vibration in a radiation plate is investigated in chapter 6 where some ways of visualizing
the vibrational pattern is introduced. Furthermore the vibrational pattern is simulated in Comsol Multiphysics, where the mechanical vibrations simulation in the
radiation plate can be coupled to an acoustic simulation, which can be useful for
characterization of a given radiation plate design.
1.2
Objective of the project
Designing a high power ultrasonic transducer involves a range of different steps.

From designing or choosing the Langevin source, designing an optimal horn and
designing a radiation plate that gives a sound field usable for the purpose at hand.
Other things that could be taken into the design and optimization of such sources,
is e.g. optimizing the electric circuits that delivers the excitation signal to the
piezo elements. These parts are all places where great improvements can be made.
Some of these are described in [8], where it is seen that the optimization of the
source facilitates the use of a much smaller amplifier for a stable setup for acoustic
levitation.
In this thesis the main focus will be the design of the mechanical horn to attach
to the purchased Langevin transducer, which will be joined to form an ultrasonic
source. The design process followed in the work described in the present thesis is
based on the use of Comsol Multiphysics, using material properties measured in the
lab.
Further more the project also covers ways to characterize radiation plates. The
characterization is done trough simulations of the radiated sound field and practical experiments, with which it is possible to visualize the displacement patterns of
radiation plates vibrating at ultrasonic frequencies.
The main motivation for this work is to produce a source strong enough to be
used for acoustic levitation.
1.3
Conventions
In this thesis the parts of the horn are named after their place in the combined
source. The part of the horn that is closest to the Langevin transducer (the wider
part of the horn) is named with the subscript 1 and the part closest to the sound
field is named with the subscript 2. For example the diameter of the second part
of the horn is named D2 and the length of the first part is named L1 . In relation to
figure 1.1 this convention is a top-down naming of the horn parts. This convention
is used throughout the thesis.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
Chapter 2
Theory
In this chapter the theory used further in this thesis will be outlined. First a review
of vibrational theory in bars needed for designing mechanical horns is presented, and
the chapter continues with some theory on radiation of sound from circular pistons.
When dealing with radiation plates attached to the end of a horn the radiation plate
does not always vibrate in a piston like motion. For this reason the chapter also
contains a section describing the vibrations of flexible circular plates.
Apart from the physics theory an introduction to the simulation tool Comsol
Multiphysics is also made in this chapter.
In the end of the chapter a short introduction to the Gorkov potential, and some
acoustic levitation theory is introduced to better be able to evaluate the sources
used in this project.
2.1
Vibrations in bars with circular cross section
In this section the theory of vibrations in circular bars is outlined. This theory
involves longitudinal, transversal, torsional and radial vibrations and resonances in
bars
2.1.1
Longitudinal vibrations
For calculation of longitudinal vibrations in bars, it is commonly used, to use the

stress strain formulation [10, chapter 3] given but the expressions for strain,
=
w
x
(2.1)
and stress given by

F
= E
S
(2.2)
where w is a measure of displacement along the bar, x is a measure of distance and

S is the cross section of the given bar that is substitute to the force F . The value
E is the elasticity coefficient of the material, also known as Youngs modulus.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
Given the mentioned equations for stress and strain, the longitudinal wave equation can be deduced to be [10, page 70] :
2w
1 2w
=
x2
c2L t2
(2.3)
where cL is the propagation speed of the longitudinal vibration. cL can be calculated from the density of the given material, , and Youngs modulus the following
equation [10, page 70]
s
E
(2.4)
cL =
By assuming a general solution of the wave equation given in equation 2.3 and
applying the boundary conditions of the geometry at hand, the mode pattern for
the resonances can be calculated. This is described in greater detail in [10, Page
71-72].
For a bar that is free in both ends, meaning that the support for the bar does
not apply any strain to the ends of the bar, the mode shapes can be calculated from
the following equation [10, page 72]:
w (x, t) = 2W ejn t cos(kn x)
(2.5)
where W is the amplitude of a an initial vibration reflected at the bar end, kn is the
wavenumber and n is the angular frequency of the nth resonance.
The resonance frequency of the nth resonance can now be calculated as:
fn =
ncL
2L
(2.6)
where L is the length of the bar.

It is seen that the first resonance in a free-free bar is a half-wavelength resonance
(/2 resonator). As we shall later see, this is the resonance that is of most interest
when building a high power ultrasonic resonator source.
The equations here mentioned is a formulation for pure longitudinal vibrations in
a bar, and it is assumed that the displacement and thereby the strain is uniform over
the cross section of the bar. This is not always the case, especially for bars that are
relatively wide compared to their length. In that case the longitudinal vibrations are
affected by the radial vibrations (see section 2.1.4) ultimately changing the resonance
frequency of the bar. This phenomenon is described in detail in [7].
In figure 2.1 an example of a longitudinal resonance in a circular bar can be seen.
2.1.2
Transversal bending waves vibrations
Another types of vibrations that can occur in circular bars is transversal bending
vibrations. This vibration can also be experienced, for instance, in a swaying flag
pole or a vibrating spring.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
Figure 2.1 - Example of a longitudinal resonance in a circular bar. The displacement is shown as deformation (exaggerated) and by the color
scale indicating absolute values of displacement. The original bar
is shown by the black wire frame. This is a resonance of a fixedfree bar
Figure 2.2 - Example of a transversal resonance in a fixed-free circular bar
The wave is a result of bending moments and shear forces acting in the bar. An
example of a transversal wave can be seen in figure 2.2
In the case of a circular bar that is clamped at one end and free at the other,
the resonance frequencies are given by [10, page 83]
acL
f = 1.1942 , 2.9882 , 52 , 72 , ...
(2.7)
12L2
where L is the length of the bar and a is the radius of the bar. The expression has
been written as a function of cL , which is the propagation speed of longitudinal waves
for the material. This is not because cL is the same as the propagation speed of the
bending wave, but because it makes the the formulations for the longitudinal and
transversal waves easier to compare. It is seen from equation 2.7 that the frequency
of the transversal waves is dependent of the radius of the bar. For this reason,
unwanted transversal waves in a mechanical horn can be avoided by changing the
radius of the horn parts, given the rest of the horn design allows this change.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
In the design of a Langevin transducer based ultrasonic source, transversal vibrations are not desired. If transversal vibrations have resonances in the same frequency
range as the longitudinal vibrations it is possible that some of the vibrational energy
would go to transversal vibrations instead of the wanted longitudinal vibrations.
2.1.3
Torsional vibrations
A torsional vibration occurs when a bar is excited by a twists torque around its axis
of the bar. An example of the twisting movement is shown in figure 2.3, where a
torsional resonance for a fixed-free bar is seen.
Figure 2.3 - Example of torsional resonance in a circular bar. The bar has
been sliced trough to in 5 slices better see the rotation
The first torsional resonance is a /4 resonance, which was also the case for the
first longitudinal resonance. In this and other ways the torsional and longitudinal
vibrations behave much alike the. The torsional wave equation is, like the longitudinal waves, a second order differential equation. The propagation speed of torsional
waves is [11, page 46]
s
G
cT =
(2.8)
where G is the shear modulus, determined by the material composition. G has in

the description of torsional vibrations the role that the Youngs modulus E has in
the longitudinal vibration description.
From this similarity it is noted, that if torsional and longitudinal resonances
coincide, it is not possible to move the frequency of the torsional resonance to a
different frequency without the longitudinal resonance also moving the same amount.
On the other hand G and E are not likely to coincide for many materials; in most
cases the sheer modulus will be a lot less. For some materials though, it will be
possible to excite a higher torsional resonance when driving the first longitudinal
resonance.
In the case of a Langevin transducer driving a mechanical horn, it is not likely
that the torsional resonances will be excited very much, since the piezo electric discs
of the Langevin transducer vibrates primarily in the longitudinal direction.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
2.1.4
10
Radial vibrations
Radial vibrations are mechanical vibrations that runs in a direction perpendicular

to the axial direction of the bar. This means that the resonance of this type of
vibrations will be a standing wave in this direction. Since the dimensions of a bar
are usually greater in the axial direction than in the radial direction, the resonance
of radial vibrations will have a higher frequency than the longitudinal resonance
frequency.
An example of a radial resonance can be seen in figure 2.4, where the dimensions
of the example rod is changed, so that the rod is very short but rather wide.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2.4 - Radial resonance in a cylindric bar that is very short relative to
its diameter. The two images are of opposite phase
In this project the radial vibrations play a part since they have an effect on the
longitudinal resonance frequencies of cylindric bars as described in [7]. Here it is
stated that even away from the radial resonance frequency, the radial vibration affect
the longitudinal resonance by lovering the resonance frequency. This results in the
longitudinal wave equation not being sufficient to calculate the resonance frequency.
Since Comsol simulates the geometry defined and do not simply assume longitudinal
vibrations, the mix of longitudinal and radial vibrations will not be a problem in the
simulations. In the theoretical calculations however it cannot be assumed that the
longitudinal vibrations equations can be accurately used to calculate the resonance
frequency of a bar if the length to width ratio is not very high.
2.2
Radiation from a circular piston
From a summation of point sources, the on axis pressure generated from a planar
circular piston vibrating with a fixed velocity v can be described as the following
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
11
equation [12, Chapter 7] for pressure as function of distance r and piston radius a

!!
r

a 2
1

kr
p (r, a) = 20 ca v sin
1+
1
(2.9)

2
r
where ca is the speed of sound in air, 0 is the density of air and k is the wavenumber.
In the far field the pressure amplitude is asymptotic to the curve given by
k a2
1
p(r, a) = 0 ca v
2
r
(2.10)
It should be noticed that the far field the pressure at a given distance is proportional to the radius of the piston squared.
pf arf ield a2
(2.11)
For distances closer to the source, the pressure amplitude has not yet meet the
asymptotic decay in equation 2.10, and therefore the proportionality to the radius
squared does not comply. A graphical representation of the pressure radiated from
a circular disc is shown in figure 2.5 for k = 20 for a range of distance to radius
ratios.
Figure 2.5 - Sound pressure radiated from circular piston for different radius
to distance ratios. k = 20
From the figure it can be seen that for some specific distances, a higher sound
pressure can be achieved by choosing a smaller surface area for the sound source.
This can be seen by comparing the normalized radiation in figure 2.5 at a distance
to radius ratios of 1.2 and 1.7. With the distance constant the jump from 1.2 to 1.7
could be done by decreasing the disc radius by 30% but vould lead to an increase
in the radiated sound pressure level by approximately 18dB. This is only a local
effect and it does not comply in the far field, but if a high sound pressure in the
near field is the main interest in a certain source design, the source radius should
not necessarily be as big as possible.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
2.3
12
Vibrating discs
By vibrations in discs is in this thesis meant a bending vibration traveling in the

radial direction of the disc.
Examples of resonances of free vibrating discs can be seen in figure 2.6, where the
first two axisymmetric resonances, as well as one of the non axisymmetric resonances
of an arbitrary free vibrating disc can be seen.
(a) First axisymmetric resonance
(b) Second axisymmetric resonance
(c) Non axisymmetric resonance
Figure 2.6 - Resonances in a thin unsupported disc. The discs in (a) and (b)
are the two first axisymmetric resonances and (c) is an arbitrary
non-axisymmetric resonance of the disc
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
13
In the figure it is seen that the first axisymmetric resonance has a nodal circle
around the center of the disc.
In this thesis the non axisymmetric resonances will not be investigated further,
but the axisymmetric vibrations of discs is used in connection to the characterization
of radiation plates in chapter 6.
The images are from a 3D simulation in Comsol Multiphysics.
2.4
Simulation in Comsol Multiphysics
When investigating the behavior of ultrasonic transducers it is widely used to base

such research on finite element method (FEM) simulations [6, 7, 13]. In this project
the simulation tool Comsol Multiphysics has been used for analysis of mechanical
vibrations, as well as sound propagation. For a thorough introduction to FEM for
vibrational simulation see [14, Chapter 8].
In this section it is described how the geometries in the project have been simulated. Simulations of stress strain vibration as well as acoustical field radiation, has
been carried out using the Comsol Multiphysics (from here referred to as Comsol).
This simulation software has a wide range of simulation facilities e.g. electrical
field simulations, magnetic field simulations, mechanical stress-strain simulations
and acoustic field simulations. The software also has the ability to connect multiple
physics in one simulation, as it is done in a later chapter where both mechanical
vibrations and acoustical radiation is simulated in one combined simulation.
When simulating a given physical situation in Comsol, the model of the physical
object can be made in several different geometry formulations. To reduce calculation
time is useful to reduce the problem to as simple a geometry as possible. If a given
situation can be simulated as a two dimensional problem, the calculation time is
far less than if a full 3D simulation is run of the same geometry. The reason for
using the more elaborate geometry formulations is, that they will reveal solutions,
that the simpler formulations would not. It is for instance not possible to simulate
transversal waves in the axisymmetric formulation, since the transversal waves are
not axisymmetric.
2.4.1
Axisymmetric simulations
In the axisymmetric formulation of Comsol, the geometry defined is solved with the
conditions that all physical properties are symmetric around a user defined symmetry
axis. This means the geometry is defined in a 2D space and the user must imagine
the geometry rotated around the symmetry axis. Therefore, a geometry solved
for stress/strain vibrations in the axisymmetric formulation will only reveal the
longitudinal and radial waves in the geometry, since they are the only axisymmetric
waves that can occur in a bar.
In figure 2.7 examples are seen to illustrate how the Axisymmetric geometry
represents a 3D shape. The geometry in 2.7(a) is defined for Comsol simulations
and is rotational symmetric around the straight side on the left. In 2.7(b) a 3D
model of a similar geometry is seen. This model is made in Autodesk Inventor by
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
14
(a)
(b)
Figure 2.7 - A similar geometry represented as (a) an axisymmetric geometry defined for Comsol axisymmetric simulations and (b) in a 3D
model designed in Autodesk Inventor
actually drawing a 2D axisymmetric sketch and revolving it around the same axis
as Comsol does (virtually)
The simplification of the geometries enables the definition of these from a Matlab
script, which enables automated simulations driven from Matlab 1 .
2.4.2
Simulations types
When simulating a given geometry in Comsol, different simulations can be run to

reveal different properties of the geometry. For the stress-strain simulations in this
project two simulation types have been used, namely eigenfrequency analysis and
frequency response analysis.
The eigenfrequency simulations
In eigenfrequency simulations Comsol finds a user defined number of resonances
for the defined geometry. This is done trough eigenfrequency equations predefined
within the Comsol software.
When solving for eigenfrequencies Comsol includes the stress-strain interaction
and mass of the geometry, but not defined forces or displacement. If any displacement is set, these will be seen as a fixed boundary by the eigenfrequency solver.
To include forces and displacement in the simulation model a frequency response
simulations must be used.
1
Using these automated simulations, it is possible to make geometry sweeps; a functionality not
implemented in Comsol as of version 3.5. A new version of Comsol, version 4, is under development.
This version supposedly supports geometry sweeps from within the Comsol environment
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
15
Frequency response simulations

In the frequency response simulations the simulations tool solves a stress-strain wave
equation numerically with the given boundary conditions. This type of simulation
corresponds to doing a physical experiment, in the way that an interaction must be
applied to the model or nothing will happen.
The resulting behavior of the model geometry can, in a frequency analysis simulation like in a physical experiment, be complex, and the results of a frequency
response simulation can complicated to analyze automatically using programmed
scripts. For this reason frequency analysis simulations are mostly used to analyze
geometries where the behavior of a single model geometry is investigated, rather
than in e.g. a sweep of geometry dimensions.
To ensure consistent simulations results all simulations have been done with
fixed-force boundary conditions for the input excitation. This ensures that both
eigenfrequency and frequency response simulations can be run revealing the same
resonances of the same geometry. To prove that this is the correct way to define
input excitations for the free bars, see figure 2.8. Here it is seen that when the input
excitation is set to a fixed displacement the resonance calculated is the /4 rather
than /2 as is expected for a free-free bar.
Frequency response simulation have been preformed to find the optimal horn
parameters in section 4 and for simulations of radiation plates in chapter 6.
2.4.3
Simulation of coupled physics
An important strength of Comsol Multiphysics is the ability to couple simulations

of different physics (hence the name Multiphysics). Using this functionality it is
possible e.g. to couple a mechanical vibration problem to an acoustical problem, and
simulate the two together, also including the interaction between the acoustical field
and the mechanical system. This functionality is used in section 6.3, where radiation
plate vibrations simulation are coupled to acoustic field simulations enabling the
calculation of e.g. directivity pattern of radiation plates at a given mechanical
vibration frequency.
2.4.4
Simulation conclusion
When simulating a certain physical problem in Comsol, choosing a geometry formulation that only just satisfy the problem at hand, can reduce simulation time in
comparison to doing an elaborate 3D simulation for all problems. For this reason
the axisymmetric geometry formulation has been used throughout this project.
While the axisymmetric simulations only reveal axisymmetric vibration properties of the geometry, the longitudinal vibration problems can be simulated in the
axisymmetric formulation to increase simulations speed and to have a simpler simulation result to analyze. Furthermore the axisymmetric geometries are simpler to
define from a Matlab script making the combination of the two programs a strong
tool for e.g. sweeps in geometry which is not possible to do in Comsol alone.
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
16
(a) Fixed displacement
(b) Fixed force
Figure 2.8 - Two simulations of the same geometry with either fixed displacement (a) or fixed force (b) on the top of the bar. Only with fixed
force is the /2 resonance revealed
CHAPTER 2. THEORY
2.5
17
Acoustic levitation
This section consists of a short introduction to acoustic levitation. The fact that
a sound field produces forces that can be used for the purpose of levitating small
objects, has been described in various literature based on both a theoretical explanations [1517] and practical setups, that can be used for levitating small objects or
even small animals like in [18]. The original proposition that such phenomenon exists
was first deduced in [19], but practical validations of the theory was not conducted
until the 1970s where NASA conducted some experiments with micro gravity using
acoustic levitation.
To calculate the force on an object in a sound field, the Gorkov potential U is
used. The Gorkov potential, which was first defined by L.P. Gorkov in [20], can be
calculated from the following equation:

v2
p2
3
(2.12)
0
U = 2 Robj
3 0 c2
2
Where p and v is the mean sound pressure and particle velocity for a given point,
0 is the density of air, ca is the speed of sound and Robj is the radius of the object
for which the potential is calculated.
The force on a levitated object can be calculated from the Gorkov potential using
F = U
(2.13)
where F is the force on the object.

Since the Gorkov potential, and there by the force on a levitated object, and the
3
volume, and thereby the weight of a the object, are both proportional to Robj
the
strength of a given levitator should not be measured by the weight it can levitate,
but by the density of the object it can levitate. Experiments with acoustic levitation
are carried out in section 5.5.
CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES
18
Chapter 3
Effect of mechanical horn shapes
In this chapter the effect of the shape of mechanical horns is investigated. By
evaluating different kinds of mechanical horns, mainly with respect to their expected
amplification of the vibration amplitude from one end to the other, the optimal horn
shape for use in an ultrasonic source is determined.
The idea of mechanical horns is that by making a horn with different diameters
at each end the end where the diameter is smallest will vibrate with the largest
amplitude.
In this chapter three horn types are described and their theoretical amplification, deduced in [21], is attempted verified by simulations in Comsols axisymmetric
formulation.
The horns are all meant to be /2 resonators with pure longitudinal waves, and
a resonance frequency of f = 25kHz is chosen, as it lies within the normal frequency
range of ultrasonic sources. The length of the horns are calculated from the following
equation, assuming the material of the horn is aluminum with cL = 5150m/s [10, p
526].
L=
cL
5150
=
=
= 103mm
2
2f
2 29900
(3.1)
This length is used for all the simulated horns as is the material properties found
in [10] E = 7.1 1010 P a, = 2700kg/m3 and = 0.33.
3.1
Conical horns
The simplest way of varying the diameter from one end of a mechanical horn to the
other is to change the diameter gradually forming a conical horn. Such a horn is
shown in figure 3.1 which shows the displacement of a conical horn in an axisymmetric Comsol simulation.
From the longitudinal wave equation (equation 2.3), the amplification A of a
conical horn can be deduced, as it is done in [21, Chapter 4, III E]. Note the another
subscript convention is being used:
v2
A=
= N cos
v1
L
c
c N 1
sin
L
L
c

(3.2)
19
Figure 3.1 - First resonance in an axisymmetric simulation of a conical horn

with aspect ratio D1 /D2 = 7
2
.
where N = D
D1
For a half wavelength resonator (/2 resonator) this equation can be simplified
using
cL
cL
=
=
2
2f
L
=
cL
L=
(3.3)
(3.4)
Inserting equation 3.4 in 3.2 the simple equation

A = N =
D2
D1
(3.5)
is achieved for the amplification of a conical horn.

To validate this amplification a series of simulations has been conducted in Comsol Multiphysics axisymmetric formulation. The simulation result for amplification
is seen in figure 3.2.
From the simulation result it is clear, that the amplification does only follow the
theoretical amplification for small aspect ratios of the horn. The reason for the drop
in amplification at larger aspect rations could point to, that the assumption of pure
longitudinal waves in equation 3.3 is not valid for the larger aspect ratios.
Figure 3.3 shows the displacement of a conical horn with a large aspect ratio of
D1 /D2 = 7. Here the vibrations are not pure longitudinal waves, which is seen by
the curves of the coloring of the displacement.
20
Figure 3.2 - Simulation of the absolute amplification in a conical horn. Only

for small diameter rations does the simulation amplification match
the theoretical amplification
3.2
Exponential horns
When designing a horn to go from one diameter to another, another way to make this
transition is in a gradual exponentially changing curve. This transition is described
by equation 3.6 for the cross section as a function of the length variable x.
S (x) = S1 ekx
(3.6)
where
ln
k=

L
D2
D1

(3.7)
From 3.6 an expression for the diameter at a certain point in the transition can
be found:
q
D (x) = D12 ek(xL)
(3.8)
An example of an exponential horn can be seen in figure 3.4.
For this type of horn the amplification can be proven to be [21, Chapter 4 III C,
p 117]:

v2
D2
A=
=
(3.9)
v1
D1
which is the same as the theoretical amplification of the conical horn, but in the
deduction the assumption of longitudinal resonance made in 3.3 is not taken in the
case of the exponential horn. Like with the conical horn the exponential horn has
21
Figure 3.3 - An example of the deformation of the conical horn with an aspect
ratio of 7
been simulated for a range of diameter aspect ratios. The results of the simulation
can be seen in figure 3.5.
It is seen from the simulation results in figure 3.5 that the amplification of the
exponential horn follows the theoretical amplification throughout the aspect ratio
sweep, to a good extend. This shows that the exponential horn will be able to
deliver a higher order of amplification than the conical horn though the theory said
their amplification would be the same. This is thought to be on account of the
longitudinal wave theory being more accurate for the exponential horn since it is
thinner a longer way up the horn. In figure 3.6 the deformation of a wide exponential
horn at resonance can be seen.
By comparing the deformation pattern of the exponential horn with the conical
horn, which is seen in figure 3.3, it can be seen that in the conical horn there is a
circular displacement pattern around y = 0.07m. This points to the presence of non
longitudinal vibrations which are not assumed in the deduction of the amplification
theory. To determine the reason for the lack of amplification for large horn ratios,
the phenomenon would have to be investigated further.
22
Figure 3.4 - Example of an exponential horn
Figure 3.5 - Amplification simulation for the exponential horn (Absolute values). Here the simulated amplification matches the theoretical
value for a wide range of diameter ratios
Figure 3.6 - Resonance of exponential horn with an aspect ratio of 7
23
3.3
24
Stepped horns
A simple way of going from one diameter to another is in one quick step. This is the
reasoning behind the stepped horn as it is described in [21, Chapter 4, III. B] and
used in [8]. This type of horn consist of two cylindric steps with an abrupt transition
at the midpoint. By assuming pure longitudinal waves in the horn, the length of the
horn steps should be equal to one another, and together form a /2 resonator. In
this way the transition should be located at the nodal point of the resonator. This
is sketched in figure 3.7
Figure 3.7 - The stepped horn and the displacement as function of the position
in the horn. This assumes pure longitudinal waves giving l1 =
l2 and a nodal plane located at the transition between the two
diameters
For the stepped horn the amplification can be shown to be [21, page 113]
v2
Z1
A=
=
v1
Z2
D1
D2
2
(3.10)
where Z1 and Z2 are the mechanical impedance of the two horn steps. This expression for the amplification assumes identical material properties (such as propagation
speed) in the two horn steps, but as long as the waves are pure longitudinal this is
a reasonable assumption. The equation shows a great amplification potential which
surpasses the two previous horn types by the power of two.
Like with the other horn type a series of simulations has been carried out, to
verify the horn amplification for the stepped horn. The result of the simulation can
be seen in figure 3.8
As the figure shows, the amplification of the stepped horn follows the theoretical
amplification to a good extend for the entire aspect ratio sweep. This points to the
stepped horn being the optimal horn for amplifying vibrations.
3.3.1
Nodal position in stepped horn
When looking at the displacement throughout the horn it can be seen, that the
transition is not a clear nodal plane as expected from the theory in [21].This can be
25
Figure 3.8 - Simulated and theoretical amplification (absolute values) of a

stepped horn. The simulated results match the theoretical amplification to an acceptable degree
seen in figure 3.9 where the height of the plot shows the amount of displacement at
a given position in the horn.
From figure 3.9 it can be seen, that the node is not a clean cut perpendicular
to the axial direction trough the transition of the horn, but rather a curved line
from some point on the line between the two diameters and a point inside the first
cylinder of the horn.
For this reason a specific design process is established which should ensure that
the horn is vibrating around a node positioned at the transition. While doing this,
the length of the horn steps are not necessarily equal, as we shall see in the next
chapter.
3.4
Resonance frequencies for horn types
When doing the geometry sweep simulations in the previous sections, the resonance
frequency has been stored for each geometry step of each of the different horn types.
This is interesting to look at, because it is expected that for cylindrical bars the
resonance frequency will drop below the pure longitudinal resonance frequency if
the bar does not have a large length to width ratio. This is investigated in [7]. The
resonance frequency for the three horn types, as a function of aspect ratio of the
horns, can be seen in figure 3.10.
It is noted that none of the horns have a resonance frequency of exactly f =
25kHz as they were designed for using the pure longitudinal wave formulation.
From figure 3.10 it is seen that for the stepped horn the resonance frequency
26
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.9 - Displacement of the stepped horn. The height of the plot shows
displacement in the axial direction of the horn. In (b) there is
zoomed on the transition of the horn
drops when the aspect ratio of the horn increases. This is expected and corresponds
well to the results achieved by [7]. When looking at the frequency changes for the
conical and exponential horns, it is seen that the resonance frequency here increases
with increased aspect ratio of the horn.
27
Figure 3.10 - Resonance frequencies for the first eigenfrequency of the different
horn types.
CHAPTER 4. DESIGN OF STEPPED HORN FOR LANGEVIN TRANSDUCER BASED

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
28
Chapter 4
Design of stepped horn for
Langevin transducer based
ultrasonic source
In this chapter the steps in designing a stepped horn for a specific resonance frequency are described.
For practical use it is wanted to have a means of mounting the horn in a setup
, holding it at a nodal point or plane. This would ensure that the holder would
interfere as little as possible with the vibrations in the horn.
Simulations of the symmetric stepped horn used in the previous section, where
l1 = l2 showed, that the nodal plane of the resonance does not coincide with the
transition step. Further more there is no nodal point on the outside of either of the
horn steps, which can be used for the mounting of the horn.
For these reasons a work flow has been developed to ensure, that the horn vibrates
in a fashion where the transition is moving as little as possible. This method is used
for designing stepped horns both with and without mounting plates, for holding the
horn, and with curved and angled transitions.
4.1
Work flow stepped horn design
To construct a horn with a well defined nodal point for mounting of the horn, a
design work flow is used where the lengths of each of the horn steps are found
individually. This is done by doing a dimension sweep in a Matlab driven Comsol
simulation while looking at the achieved resonance frequency.
Since the horn is to be designed for a specific Langevin transducer, the diameter
of the horn step close to the Langevin transducer should have the same size, as the
transducer, which is D = 30mm.
In [7] it is shown that the longitudinal resonances can be coupled to the radial
vibrations in the bar. As a consequence the resonance frequency will be lower than
the pure longitudinal resonance. For this reason, the resonance of the horn steps
cannot be assumed to have the same frequency even if the lengths are the same. For
this reason, the lengths of the horn steps are found individually one at the time.

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
29
Before the design process is started the simulation tool should be loaded with
the material properties of the material the horn is to me made from. In this project
an aluminum alloy called EN AW-2011 has been used to fabricate the parts. The
properties for this material can be seen in appendix D, though not all properties
needed to preform a stress-strain simulation (E, and ) were available. For this
reason the value of Youngs modulus has been measured to be E = 7.54 1010 P a
using the method described in appendix A. For density the data sheet value of
= 2840kg/m3 has been used and for Poissons ratio, which is less material specific,
the value = 0.33 has been used [21, page 206].
Design step one

The first step in designing a stepped horn is to define the length of the first horn
step. The optimal length for the first horn step is calculated trough a series of
simulations, where the two horn steps have the same diameter (forming a two part
cylinder). This method is used to ensure that the first horn step is a /4 resonator.
An example of such a geometry is show in figure 4.1(a).
(a) Design step one
(b) Design step two
Figure 4.1 - Sketch of the two design steps. In design step one both the
length are changed symmetrically and the horn steps have the
same diameters. In design step two only the second horn step is
changed
By varying the lengths of the both horn steps the optimal length of a step with
this diameter can be found, for the desired resonance frequency.

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
30
Design step two

To find the optimal length of the second and narrower horn step, a similar set of
simulations are conducted.
With the length and diameter of the first horn step fixed at the value found
in design step one, the length of the second horn step is swept, at each length
doing a frequency analysis to see the resonance frequency of the horn step with this
particular length. When the desired resonance frequency is meet the length of the
second horn step is at its optimal length. This is done for a single diameter of the
second horn step.
After the length of the second horn step has been found the horn design is done,
the horn steps having the lengths found in the two simulation sweeps. The designed
source will now have the resonance frequency defined as the target frequency, and
the node will be positioned at the transition of the horn.
4.2
Mounting plate and transition effects
When a horn is used in an ultrasonic transducer it is desirable to have a stable place

to hold the transducer, without interfering with the resonance and amplification of
the horn. Since the horn steps are designed to be /4 resonators, they will together
form a /2 resonator with a node at the transition. This makes the transition a
good position to introduce a plate for holding the horn, as this will interfere as little
as possible with the vibration of the two horn steps. This plate will be called a
mounting plate in this thesis.
Another important thing to address when designing a mechanical horn for velocity amplification, is the stress in the transition. It is widely used to smooth the
transition to avoid the high stress that a right angle transition intuitively gives.
The influence on the characteristics of the horn, by introduction of the mounting
plate and the change in transition shapes, are investigated in two simulation sweeps,
as described in the following sections.
Examples of horns with mounting plates and different transitions can be seen in
figure 4.2.
4.2.1
Transition
In this section the influence on horn characteristics by the transition shape is investigated for a stepped horn without a mounting plate. This is done trough two
simulation sweeps, where the stress and amplification is measured as a function of
the diameter ratio. The first sweep is done with a stepped horn that has a right
angle transition, that is, the diameter of the horn goes directly from D1 to D2 at the
transition. In the second sweep the transition follows a curve to lessen the stress.
When constructing a stepped horn for ultrasonic applications, a rule of thumb is
to make the transition of the horn in the shape of a quarter-circle, where the radius
is the size of the difference between the radii of the two part that are joined together
[21, page 114]. Since this rule of thumb is general, and also used in applications
where the horn is used in contact with other materials (like in ultrasonic welding),

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
31
(a) Horn design with mounting plate and an- (b) Horn design with mounting plate and
gled transition
curved transition, the transition following a
Bezier curve
Figure 4.2 - Examples of horns with mounting plates positioned at the nodal
line of the horn and different transition types
the radius of the transition curve is, in this project, set to half this rule of thumb.
The transition curve in this project therefore has the radius Rtransition .
Rtransition =
D1 D2
4
(4.1)
In this project Bezier-curve shaped transition has been used as opposed to the
quarter-circle transition.
A Bezier curve is a type of curve widely used in vector graphics. It is basically a
quadratic interpolation of three points giving the smoothest transition between the
two end points. The use of the Bezier curved transition is chosen since it is easier to
define in a Matlab driven Comsol simulation, than the quarter-circle. Furthermore
the interpolated transition is even more smooth than the circle transition making it
more ideal for the transition of a mechanical horn.
Simulations of stepped horn transitions
To investigate the effect of a curved or right angled transition, steeped horns with
the different transition shapes, have been simulated for a range of diameter ratios.
In the simulation the maximum stress has been measured. This value is found by
looking for the place in the horn with the maximum stress and storing this value.
The simulation results of amplification and maximum stress can be seen in figure
4.3, where it is evident, that the maximum stress in the horn is decreased by the
curved transition. For large aspect ratios there is a visible difference between the
stress for the horn with the right angled transition, and the one with the Bezier
curved transition.
When looking at the amplification of the horn it is seen, that the amplification
for the two transition types are close to the same, but since there is a decrease in
the maximum stress, the source will be able to deliver a higher sound pressure with
a curved transition before meeting its maximum stress limit.

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
32
Figure 4.3 - Simulation results for the amplification and stress normalized to
the velocity v1 for a free (not fixed) horn
4.2.2
Mounting plate
In this section simulations have been made to investigate the effects of an added
plate at the transition in the stepped horn. The plate is designed with a thickness
of 2mm and an outer diameter of 45mm.
Using the design steps mentioned in section 4.1, several stepped horns with
mounting plates at the transition has been designed and simulated using an automated Matlab script. The simulation result for these horns, having different diameter ratios as well as both curved and right angled transitions, can be seen in figure
4.4.
From figure 4.4 it is seen that the maximum stress in the horn is decreased by
adding the mounting plate to the horn. The curved transition still leads to less
stress than the angled transition, though the difference is not as large as in the horn
without a mounting plate.
An interesting result for the simulation is, that the curved transition does not
decrease the amplification of the horn, rather it increases it when the horn has
a mounting plate at the transition. This result is very interesting and should be
investigated further, as it could mean that the amplification could be increased by
using an even bigger transition curve or a different shape of the curved transition.
In the plot in figure 4.4 there are some irregularities in the curve of stress for
the Bezier curve transition. This error is thought to occur on account of the small

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
33
Figure 4.4 - Simulation results for the amplification and stress normalized to
the velocity v1 for a horn with a fixed mounting plate
curve radius in this area causing numerical errors in Comsol. This has not been
investigated further.
4.3
Radiation from a stepped horn with no radiation plate
In this section the near field sound pressure radiated from a stepped horn with no
radiation plate is investigated.
Since acoustic levitation is not necessarily a far field process, it can be interesting
to look at the near field radiation from a piston of a given size at a distance closer to
the source than the far field. This is done introducing an expression for the pressure
radiated from a stepped horn of a certain radius.
The expression is constructed of the expression for on axis pressure, given by 2.9,
and the amplification of the stepped horn given by equation 3.10.

2
D1 /2
pHorn (r, a2 ) = p (r, a2 )
(4.2)
a2
The expression in equation 3.10 is illustrated in figure 4.5, where the sound
pressure level is plotted relative to the sound pressure radiated by a horn of D2 =

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
34
5mm. It is assumed that D1 = 30mm for all values of D2 and that the frequency is
f = 29900Hz.
Figure 4.5 - Sound radiation in the near field relative to the radiation from a
piston with the diameter 5mm. The different lines represent the
relative sound pressure level at a specific distance. The two blue
areas both represent a range of distances
It is clear from the figure, that for wider pistons the far field is further away.
From the figure it is seen, that in the near field it is desirable to have a D2
as small as possible, since the amplification of the stepped horn will make up for
the loss in radiation surface. There is no gain in choosing a wider D2 , other than
stability of the source, in respect to possible transverse vibrations.
4.4
Stepped horn designed for practical experiments
To evaluate the theory on the stepped horn, described in this and previous chapters,
a horn is designed for practical tests. The horn is designed to be attached to the
Langevin transducer, why the diameter of the first horn step should be D1 = 30mm
to ensure good transfer of vibrations.
Since the near field radiation will decrease for larger values of D2 , this is set to
be D2 = 10.4mm.
Using the design process described in section 4.1 in a Matlab script, the optimal
lengths of the two horn steps have been found to be L1 = 43.95mm and L2 = 43mm.
In the design a mounting plate of thickness 2mm and radius 45mm has been used.

ULTRASONIC SOURCE
35
The transition is shaped in a Bezier curve with the radius 4.9mm according to
equation 4.1.
A work sketch of the designed horn can be seen in appendix E, and a picture of
a horn constructed from this sketch, can be seen in figure 4.6.
Figure 4.6 - Horn constructed for experimental validation experiments
CHAPTER 5. EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
36
Chapter 5
Experimental validation
In this chapter a stepped horn described in th previous chapter has been tested in
various experimental setups. The horn is designed to be mounted on a Langevin
transducer from M.P. Interconsulting, which has a resonance frequency of 29.9kHz
and a surface diameter of 30mm, at the end where the horn is attached. As well as
the designed horn, measurements are carried out on the Swiss horn.
Finally the performance of the designed horn is discussed in comparison of to
expected performance, as well as in comparison to the Swiss horn. To compare
the horns performances, a test of the acoustic levitation forces they supply is also
conducted.
An elaborate list of the equipment used for the experiments, can be seen in
appendix F.
5.1
Test of assembled sources
The first test carried out with the constructed horn, is a frequency analysis of the
horn joined with the Langevin transducer to form an ultrasonic source. For the
measurement the following equipment was used:
Pulse system
Laptop with the pulse software
Yamaha audio amplifier
Agilent multimeter
Oscilloscope
1/8 microphone
In the test the source has been mounted in a holder made for the purpose. The
source in the holder can be seen in figure 5.1.
To find the resonance frequency of the combined source, an automated frequency
sweep was run from the Pulse software, measuring the response an 1/8 microphone
in a distance of 50mm. From this sweep the resonance frequency was found.
37
Figure 5.1 - Source mounted in the fabricated holder
The result of the frequency test was that the resonance of the designed horn
connected to the Langevin transducer was f = 28, 594kHz. It is noted that the
resonance does not match the desired resonance frequency of f = 29.9kHz.
The reason for this difference between the simulated and the measured model,
could be introduced from differences in the value of Youngs modulus. The reason
this could occur is, that it was not possible to fabricate the horn from the exact
same bar of the aluminum alloy, as was used to fabricate the test bars used to
measure Youngs modulus. For this reason there could be production deviations in
the aluminum bars, that causes the measured value of Youngs modulus not to be
sufficiently accurate.
Other sources of errors are described in section 5.3.
Another experience from this setup is, that when driving the source at its resonance frequency, vibrations can be detected in the source holder. This detection
is done by lightly touching the surface of the holder with a set of tweezers. This
produces an audible sound, that shows that the holder is vibrating.
38
This points to the resonance of the source not being entirely balanced, meaning
that the horn has a different resonance frequency than the Langevin transducer. If
this is the case, the horn would not be excited in its own resonance, why the mounting
plate would not be located at a nodal plane of the vibration. To investigate this
further, a frequency analysis of the horn alone is carried out in the next section.
5.2
Frequency analysis of horn
In this section a resonance frequency analysis is preformed with the designed horn.
The analysis is made similar to the procedure in appendix A, where the resonance
frequency of the aluminum bars is found, but in the case of the frequency analysis of the horn, no transversal resonances occurred within the frequency range of
25 35kHz, which has been the focus for the analysis preformed. Since the desired resonance frequency of the horn is 29.9kHz, it is unlikely that any transversal
resonance outside this area should affect the longitudinal resonances of the horn.
For the experiment the same equipment as in appendix A is used. That is the
Pulse system, a force hammer and a 1/800 microphone.
In this experiment the horn have been detached from the Langevin transducer
an placed in holder like seen in figure 5.2.
Figure 5.2 - Horn in holder for frequency analysis. Here the excitation is given
in the D1 end of the horn and the response measured in the D2
end.
With the horn mounted in the holder, without the Langevin source attached, the
microphone is placed near the wider end of the horn, and, using the force hammer,
the horn is excited in the thinner end. Measuring the resonance frequency in this
way shows a frequency of f = 28.72kHz. To ensure accurate measurements the test
39
is repeated with the excitation in the wider end of the horn and the microphone
in the thinner end. This test confirms the resonance frequency from the first test
of f = 28.72kHz. Since the horn was designed without the screw that connects
the horn to the Langevin transducer, it was tested what influence this had on the
horn resonance, by repeating the test with the screw inserted in the horn threading.
With the excitation in the narrower end, this test gives a resonance frequency of
f = 29.2kHz while the inverse test shows f = 29.09kHz. The reason for the small
deviation is thought to be on account of unbalanced resonances where the two end
have resonances of slightly different frequencies. From this experiment it is seen
that the screw changes the resonance of the whole horn, not just the end where it
is attached.
The difference between the target frequency of 29.9kHz and the measured frequencies is discussed further next section.
5.3
Error analysis
In this section the errors found in the frequency test are discussed.
When designing the horn used for the experimental tests Yongs modulus has
been measured. Unfortunately it was not possible to construct the horn of the same
bar of aluminum as the test pieces for the Youngs modulus measurement was made
from. This could mean that the value of Youngs modulus used in the design process
is not the exact same as the value for the aluminum used to fabricate the horn, even
though the material was said to be the same.
This is thought to be a possible source of errors that has caused the calculated
resonance frequencies to be incorrect. Apart from this error it is possible that
the simulation model is not exact enough to simulate the correct behavior of the
designed horns. In the following sections a number of changes has been made to the
simulation model to investigate the influence of some of the different parameters in
the simulation.
5.3.1
Simulation model errors
The first test done is a simulation of the horn with the dimensions measured from
the actual produced horn. These measurements revealed some small errors in the
lengths and radii of the horn, which has the dimensions:
L1 = 43, 95mm
L2 = 43, 15mm
D1 = 30, 1mm
D2 = 10, 4mm
Apart from these fabrication errors, the mounting plate was measured to have a
thickness of 2, 1mm and a diameter 45mm. Since the shape of the transition is
rather complex, it has not been possible to measure the exact dimensions of this.
40
The curved transition is a very complex shape to manufacture, why this shape is
possibly not perfectly accurate.
Using these dimensions the resonance frequency did not change away from the
29, 9kHz also achieved in the design simulations.
Simulation mesh density
Now that a geometry with more exact dimensions is established, the next step in
optimizing the simulation model is to refine the simulation mesh. By increasing the
mesh density in the simulation, it can be investigated weather the simulation mesh
is sufficiently dense, to calculate the true behavior of the horn. When changing the
mesh density to a finer mesh the resonance frequency of the mechanical system will
asymptotically approach the most correct value for the simulated parameters. In
Comsol the mesh refinement is done by clicking the refine mesh button and running
the simulation over. For testing the mesh refinement influence on the resonance
frequency, simulations have been preformed with both one and two mesh refinements,
in both cases the resonance frequency was calculated to be 29.8kHz rather than the
frequency f = 29.9kHz calculated with the standard mesh. This shows that for the
geometry of the horn with a Bezier curve transition and a fixed mounting plate, the
mesh should be refined one time more than the standard mesh for better results.
Since the second refinement of the mesh did not change the result is is not necessary
to refine the mesh more than once.
Mounting plate support
The next simulation alteration made is a change in the support conditions of the
mounting plate. When looking at the source mounted in the constructed holder
(shown in figure 5.1), it is seen that rather than applying a plane pressure on the
mounting plate all the way to the wider part of the horn, the holder only supports
the outer part of the mounting plate, and there in a squeezing fashion, applying
more pressure to the outer part than to the parts further in the mounting plate.
This is illustrated in figure 5.3, showing the optimal, the real and the simplified
real support of the mounting plate. The simplified real support is made, to try
to simulate a support that is more similar to the real situation than the optimal
support used in design simulations. It would be very complicated to simulate the
real support situation, since it does not apply a plane pressure to the mounting
plate. Furthermore the holder for the horn has a gap where it does not support the
mounting plate. This has been introduced to be able to mount the source without
taking it apart. The gap has not been simulated, but could influence the horn
behavior.
When changing the support of the mounting plate to the simplified real situation,
instead of the situation used in the design of the horn, the resonance frequency
changes to f = 29.5kHz. This drop in resonance frequency shows that the support
is an important part of the design of the horn. Since the simplified real support is
not the same as the real support it is very possible that the real support accounts for
an even larger part of the difference between resonance frequency of the simulated
horn and the measured horn. It has not been investigated, if this frequency change
41
(a) Mounting plate support (b) Sketch of real mounting plate supused in the design process
port
(c) Simplified real support of

the mounting plate used for error analysis simulations
Figure 5.3 - Three different supports for the mounting plate of the horn. The
gray area marks the area that is fixed in the simulations
42
would also occur in the ideal lengthed horn, or if it is a consequence of an unbalanced

horn vibration.
Transition curve size
Since the horn is designed using on a computer, the tolerance of the dimensions
is ultimately zero. This is not the case with the constructed horn. A part of the
design that is extraordinary difficult to produce with the desired low tolerance, is
the transition which is designed to follow a Bezier curve. Even though much effort
has been put into fabricating the transition as accurate as possible, it is very likely
that a great deal of error is introduced here. For this reason it has been investigated
what influence the transition size has on the resonance frequency. This has been
done by changing the radius of the Bezier curve transition from 4, 9mm to 4mm and
simulating the new geometry. In the simulation with the smaller curve radius the
resonance frequency drops 200Hz to a value of 29.3kHz.
5.3.2
Error analysis conclusion
In this section some of the possible errors of the construction of the horn has been
investigated. Some errors in the design of the horn could be due to the fact, that
when fabricating the test bars for the measurement of Youngs modulus the material
used does not origin from the same bar, as the material used to fabricate the horn.
This is thought to be a likely error resulting in the design process calculating design
dimensions which gives another resonance frequency than the desired.
In the error analysis several changes to the simulation geometry has been made
in succession. The changes all contributed to lowering the resonance frequency of the
horn, but not enough to account for the whole resonance frequency error. After the
simulations, it is thought that the most likely reason for the difference in resonance
frequency between the designed simulated horn and the actual constructed measured
horn, is a combination construction inaccuracies, of poor mesh density in the simulations, inaccurate mounting plate support in the simulation, insufficient mounting
plate support in the experiments with the constructed horn, and inaccuracy in the
material properties, due to production variations in the supplied aluminum. The
most important things to investigate further is thought to be the material properties, the support of the horn and the construction accuracy. These three things
can be investigated by conducting more material experiments, using the procedure
descried in appendix A, constructing a new holder for the horn, and by having the
horn fabricated using a computer controlled turning lathe.
Furthermore it would be very useful to construct a way of directly measuring the
vibrations of the horn in experimental setups, rather than the sound radiation. This
could perhaps be done using laser vibrometry, given a vibrometer that can measure
ultrasonic frequency vibration is available.
5.4
43
Sensitivity analysis of sources
In this section the sensitivity of the sources, consisting of the Langevin transducer
and each of the two horns (the designed horn and the Swiss horn), has been measured. For the test the same equipment, as in the test of the resonance frequency of
the source, has been used.
From the Pulse software, the signal generator was set to deliver a single frequency
equivalent to the resonance of each of the the sources, as measured in section 5.1.
These are for the source with the designed horn f = 28.594kHz and for the source
with the Swiss horn f = 29.9. Using this excitation the next step in setting up
the test is to adjust the gain of the amplifier, to as high level as the amplifier
allows without clipping. This is done by carefully adjusting the amplification while
measuring the voltage over the source with the oscilloscope. In this way clipping
can be detected visually. When the amplification is fixed, the voltage over the
source terminals is measured using the multimeter, measuring RMS voltage. In the
experiments carried out with the available amplifier the maximum voltage that could
be delivered to the sources was 25VRM S . When the amplification is set, the measuring
sequence can be run from the Pulse software. The measuring sequence consists of the
generator playing the fixed frequency at a fixed level, and a microphone recording
the signal which then is displayed in the pulse system, as an auto spectrum. This
sequence is run with the microphone placed at different distanced to the horn surface.
The microphone is placed on axis at distances of 10 100mm. The measurement
results for the two sources can be seen in figure 5.4
Figure 5.4 - Sound pressure radiated from the two horns
44
In figure 5.4 it is seen that the difference between the two sound pressure level
lines is not the same for different distances. In figure 5.5 the difference between the
sound pressure levels for the two horns is plotted as well as a line calculated from a
theoretical estimation.
Figure 5.5 - Difference between the sound pressure radiated from the swiss
and the produced
In the figure the blue line shows the expected difference for the two sizes of piston
at the different distances. This theoretic line is calculated from equation 5.1 which
is deduced from equation 4.2, and is an expression of the change in sound pressure
level, when changing from one horn size to another.
25mm 2 !
p r, 10.4mm
2
2
SP L (r) |D=10.4mm25mm = 20 log
(5.1)
10.4mm
2
25mm
p r,
2
2
This calculation assumes a flat piston, but since the Swiss horn does not have a
plane surface but rather a big hole in the middle of the surface it must me expected
that i radiates less than the equivalent piston. By making a simple estimation based
on the reduction in surface area from the equivalent piston SSwiss to the piston with
a hole in the middle, S = SSwiss SHole it must be expected that the radiated sound
pressure level should be smaller by

!

25mm 2
10mm 2
SSwiss SHole
2
20 log
= 20 log
= 1.5dB
(5.2)
2
25mm 2
Sswiss
2
45
where the diameter of the hole is 10mm. This estimate, of the difference between
the radiation from a piston and a piston with a hole in the middle, is only a rough
estimate, and the fact that the calculated correction only accounts for some of the
difference between the theoretical and the measured sound pressure levels, is thought
to on account of the assumption, that the horn with the hole in the middle has the
same sound radiation pattern as a vibrating piston. This is also thought to be the
reason for the differences larger than 1.5dB measured at some distances.
5.5
Acoustic levitation test
In this section some attempts to levitate different objects has been carried out, using
different horns attached to the Langevin source. The horns are the designed horn,
the Swiss horn and the Swiss horn with a brass disc to cover the hole in the surface
of the horn.
The first test of acoustic levitation has been done using the Langevin transducer
with the Swiss horn attached. This horn has a hole with threading for attaching
different tools, which was thought to be impractical for levitation experiments. To
cover this hole a brass disc was fabricated and attached to the horn. Using this setup
it was possible to levitate up to two polystyrene balls when adjusting the reflector
carefully. This can be seen in figure 5.6 and in the video Levitation.wmv on the CD
in appendix G.
Figure 5.6 - Levitation using the Langevin transducer with the Swiss horn
attached. To cover the hole in the horn, a brass disc has been
attached
As it is seen in figure 5.6 the setup with the Swiss horn and the brass disc
attached, levitation of some polystyrene balls was achieved. To achieve the levitation
46
careful adjusting of the reflector was needed. Other objects than the polystyrene
balls has not been tried in this setup, but the levitation force did not feel strong
enough to levitate denser materials such as water.
Out of curiosity levitation of talcum powder was tried, unsuccessfully. The experiment did however reveal another interesting observation. As the powder was
not levitated, it fell on the surface of the brass disc, and was immediately arranged
in a circle about half way out the radius of the brass disc. This lead to the idea
of investigating the vibrational pattern of the disc described in section 6.2. The
vibrational pattern was found to form because the disc was not in contact with the
horn surface, though the gap between the two was not visible (see figure 5.6).
The next levitation test preformed, is a similar test with the horn designed in
chapter 4. Using this horn a very strong levitation was achieved. The levitation was
strong enough to levitate polystyrene balls without adjusting the distance between
the source and the reflector very carefully. By adjusting the distance more carefully,
it was possible to levitate polystyrene balls at several of the pressure nodes between
the source and reflector (up to four has been tried successfully). Furthermore levitation of water was achieved with up to two drops levitated at the same time. This
can be seen in figure 5.7 and in several videos on the CD in appendix G with names
starting with Levitation II.
Figure 5.7 - Levitation of two water drops at the same time
To levitate the water drops the reflector had to be adjusted very carefully, and
the levitation was less stable than when levitating the polystyrene balls. This is a
natural consequence of the higher density of water, than polystyrene balls.
47
Levitation experiments has also been conducted using the Swiss horn without
the brass disc attached. Here it was also possible to levitate polystyrene balls, but
not water. In the fine tuning of the reflector the hole in the horn surface complicated
the work.
The levitation experiments here described, has been conducted using the Yamaha
Audio amplifier. This amplifier cannot deliver a very high voltage (approximately
25VRM S ) without clipping. If an amplifier more suitable for driving a piezoelectric
transducer, such as the Langevin transducer was available, stronger levitation forces
would be achievable.
CHAPTER 6. RADIATION PLATE ASSESSMENTS
48
Chapter 6
Radiation plate assessments
In this chapter some methods for characterizing radiation plates are discussed. These
methods involve both simulations of mechanical and acoustic coupled setups in Comsol, and a low tech and an optical method for visualization radiation plate displacement.
For the experiments with radiation plate displacement visualization, the Langevin
transducer has been used, together with the Swiss horn with a brass disc attached.
The disc can be seen in figure 6.1
Figure 6.1 - Brass disc used in experiments with radiation plate displacement
pattern visualization
6.1
Node detection using talcum powder
The low tech method for visualization of displacement, is to apply talcum powder to
the excited radiation plate. This method delivers a fast and easy way of getting an
idea about the displacement of the radiation plate. Examples of excited radiation
plates with talcum power on the surface, can be seen in figure 6.2, where both a
radiation plate with a nodal-circle, and one where the radiation plate is excited in
a piston-like fashion, is seen.
When the radiation plate has a nodal circle, the powder will be pushed towards
this nodal circle. In the case where the piston is behaving like a piston, the powder
(a)
49
(b)
Figure 6.2 - Powder on the surface of a radiation plate forms a pattern visualizing the displacement. In (a) the plate does not vibrate in a
planar piston-like motion, because the backside of the radiation
plate does not touch the horn. In (b) the radiation plate touches
the horn, and a clear vibrational pattern is not visible
will not form any distinctive pattern, but move around on the vibrating surface in
a random pattern.
A good thing about this approach for displacement visualization is, that it can
be carried out in situ, given there is no significant forces acting on the on the powder
such as levitation-like forces. If such a force is present and is strong enough to move
the powder around it could happen that these forces, which normally are rotational
symmetric around the radiation plate center, would move the powder to a circle
shaped pattern looking like a nodal line, but in fact being a visualization of the
acoustic force field on the surface.
6.2
Visualization of radiation plate displacement

pattern using speckle interferometry
The previous method for radiation plate displacement visualization has the disadvantage, that it cannot be determined weather the displacement is measured, or
there is an acoustic force field on the surface of the radiation plate. For this reason
an optical setup has been used to visualize the radiation plate displacement. This
setup has the advantage that the measurement is not contact dependent, since it is
driven by light.
The optical method for visualization of radiation plate displacement, is based
on the theory of speckles [22, Chapter 7.5] and the interference of these. A setup
has been made that can visualize the displacement pattern of radiation plates, given
they have a surface with a fairly good reflection. The setup has been used with
brass plates with good results, but with a radiation plate made of acrylic plastic, it
was not possible to use the method, possibly because the reflection of the material
is not high enough.
50
The experimental setup for visualizing the displacement pattern of the radiation
plate is described in greater detail in appendix B.
Figure 6.3 - (a) Setup for displacement visualization experiments seen from
the USB camera. (b) Displacement visualization recorded with
from the same camera position. The lighter the pixel the larger
the displacement amplitude at the corresponding position. It can
be seen that the mounting plate of the horn is also moving a little.
The image in figure 6.3(b) shows the displacement pattern of the brass radiation
disc. The figure should be interpreted the way, the illuminated areas are vibrating,
while the black areas are not. From the figure it is clear that this experiment shows
the same circle of no vibration, approximately half way between the center and the
rim of the plate, as the powder experiment did.
Furthermore the experiment shows, that the mounting plate of the horn also
moves. This movement has also been observed by placing a set of tweezers lightly
on the mounting plate, which gives an audible sound, that shows that the mounting
plate moving. This ability to locate vibrations visually, could be useful in the further
optimization of ultrasonic horns and sources.
In a comparison between the powder and the speckle based experiments, it can
seem a bit elaborate to do a complicated optical setup when you can just apply
some powder to the surface of the disc, but it is here an important feature of the
optical setup, that it is independent of the physical forces on the plate; it only shows
displacement.
Experiments has been conducted, with the speckle setup, to try and visualize
the displacement throughout the length of the horn, but with no success.
6.3
Radiation plate simulations
In this section a series of simulations of the behavior of radiation plates has been
carried out in Comsol Multiphysics. The simulations consist of simulations reproducing the vibration pattern of the brass radiation disc used in the visualization
experiment in the previous section, and some simulations where an acoustic field
simulation has been coupled to the mechanical system simulation.
6.3.1
51
Vibration pattern of brass disc
In this section a simulation of the vibrations of a brass plate has been preformed on
the axisymmetric formulation in Comsol.
The brass disc is modeled using Comsols draw functionality as a rectangle of
size 12.5x3.6mm with one of the shorter sides assigned as symmetry axis. A section
of the top part of the rectangle, representing the radiation disc screw, is assigned a
fixed displacement.
The material of the disc is chosen to be brass with the material properties from
[10, Page 526]:
E = 10.4 1010 P a
= 0.37
= 8500kg/m3
(6.1)
(6.2)
(6.3)
The first simulation run with the brass disc geometry is an eigenfrequency simulation. This reveals the two first resonance frequencies of the disc to be f1 = 19kHz
and f2 = 87kHz. It is clear that the drive frequency used in section (f = 29.9kHz)
6.2 is not a resonance of the disc.
This other simulation is a frequency response simulation. In this simulation the
disc is excited with the frequencies f = 19kHz and f = 29.9kHz respectively, and
the responses are calculated. From this simulation the results shown in figure 6.4
are achieved.
It is seen from figure 6.4, that the disc simulations show a nodal line about half
way between the center and the rim of the disc, at f = 29.9kHz. This is the line
shown in section 6.2.
The final simulation run with the disc geometry alone, is a frequency sweep from
f = 10kHz to f = 35kHz. From this simulation a plot of the frequency response
of the disc can be produced. This is seen in figure 6.5, showing the displacement of
the center and rim of the disc, at different frequencies.
From the plot is is noted, that the surface displacement of the center and rim of
the disc are in phase until a little before the resonance frequency of 19kHz. After
this the displacement of the center is in counter phase to the rim displacement. This
shows that until this frequency, the disc behaves more like a piston, but since the
displacement at the two points are not of same magnitude, not entirely like a piston.
The piston like movement can only be achieved well under 10kHz, this is seen at
the two lines approaching one another for lower frequencies. For frequencies higher
than the resonance, the piston will have a nodal circle somewhere. This is seen by
the counter phase behavior of the displacement of the center and rim of the disc.
6.3.2
Sound radiation from radiation plates
In this section it is presented how Comsol can be used to characterize the sound
field from a complex source, such as the vibrating radiation disc. This is done
by coupling the mechanical simulation to an acoustic simulation also conducted in
Comsol. When doing this the behavior of the mechanical system will affect the
acoustic simulation as will the acoustic field affect the mechanical system.
52
(a)
(b)
Figure 6.4 - Simulation result of vibrational pattern of(a) brass disc at resonance and (b) at a frequency higher than the first resonance.
Note the different color scales; the displacement is much larger at
resonance. The vibrational pattern in (b) is to be compared to
the experimental pattern visualized in section 6.2
53
Figure 6.5 - Frequency sweep of vibration in brass disc. f = 10 35kHz. The

lines show axial displacement of the center of the disc (green) and
rim of the disc (blue)
The geometry used is the same as in the previous simulations of the disc, but
more geometries must be added to represent the sound field. The sound field is in
Comsol defined as a quarter circle attached to the surface of the disc.
For acoustic simulations the material properties (of the air) are set to Comsols
default values of
0 = 1.25kg/m3
c = 343m/s
(6.4)
(6.5)
When the geometry is setup and the material properties are defined and the
interaction of physics is setup the coupled simulations can be run. In coupled mechanical and acoustical simulations in Comsol, eigenfrequency analysis can no longer
be simulated, so the introduction of a sound field limits the further simulations to
frequency response simulations.
In figure 6.6 an example of a simulation of the sound pressure level radiated from
the brass plate is shown.
From the sound field simulation various data can be pulled out. An example of
this i seen in figure 6.7, showing the directivity patterns of a variety of sources is seen.
The sources simulated are the brass disc, driven at resonance and at f = 29.9kHz,
and a planar moving piston at the same two frequencies. It is seen that the directivity
of the brass disc changes when it is driven at the two frequencies, but that the
directivity of the piston remains fairly uniform for these two frequencies.
54
Figure 6.6 - Sound field simulation of brass disc driven at f = 29, 9kHz. The
brass disc is represented by the rectangle at the top of the plot.
The color scale shows absolute sound pressure in P a
In figure 6.7 it is seen that for the piston motion the radiated sound pressure
level has a different in of SP L = 8dB for all angles. This is a effect of assigning
a fixed displacement amplitude for all frequencies. The reason for this is that the
surface velocity of the is dependent of the frequency in the following way
w
(6.6)
t
Given a sinusoidal displacement of amplitude W the following is deduced
v=
W sin (2f t)
= 2f W cos (2f t)
(6.7)
t
Since the sound pressure is proportional to the surface velocity multiplied by the
frequency [12, Equation 2.7, page 9]
v=
pvf
p W f2
(6.8)
(6.9)
must apply. This leads to a gain in sound pressure for going from f1 to f2 of
2
f2
SP L|f1 f2 = 20 log
(6.10)
f1
For the case in figure 6.7 the rise in frequency from f = 19 29.9kHz must lead
to a rise of

2
29.9kHz
SP L|19kHz29.9kHz = 20 log
= 7.9dB
(6.11)
19kHz
55
Figure 6.7 - Comparison of the radiated sound pressure level for piston type
vibrations (dashed line) and the brass discs flexural vibration (full
line) at different frequencies. All simulations have the same displacement amplitude of 1m
which accounts for the difference in the piston radiation for the two frequencies.
With this knowledge of the increase in SPL for higher frequencies, it is even
more extraordinary that the flexural motion of the brass disc at resonance radiates
as high a sound pressure level as it does. This effect could be exploited in the same
way the horn amplification does to produce a highly efficient ultrasonic source.
6.4
Radiation plate conclusion
In this chapter some experiments and simulations regarding the behavior of radiation
plates has been conducted. For the purpose of visualizing the displacement pattern
of a source mounted radiation plate, two method has been used, which had their
individual strengths.
The first and simplest method was to apply some talcum powder to the surface
of the excited radiation plate. This method revealed a circular nodal line on the
brass plated used to cover the hole in the swiss horn. While this method is quick
to use, and do not need the source to be removed from its place of use, the method
has the disadvantage that it is not known weather the powder forms a given pattern
on account of the vibrational pattern of the radiation plate, or because of acoustic
forces in the field in front of the radiation plate.
The second method for visualizing radiation plate displacement, was an optical
setup using speckle interferometry to detect the vibrational pattern. This method
is not dependent of physical contact to the radiation plate as long as there is an
optical contact. Using this method the acoustic forces in the sound field in front of
56
the source does not affect the measurements. For this reason this is a more accurate
way of visualizing the radiation plate displacement patterns. Using this method it is
however needed that the source is removed from the setup it is used in, and placed
in the optical setup. For this reason this method is more elaborate to conduct, but
since the results from the method are more reliable this is acceptable in some cases.
The optical setup used can be expanded to a more exact setup which enables
measurement of absolute displacement as well as phase information [23]. This setup
could be very useful when working with radiation plates and radiation plate design,
since the displacement pattern of the radiation plate is crucial to understanding the
directivity of the given radiation plate.
Apart from the visualization experiments, this chapter also covered some simulations of radiation plates and radiation plate radiation. In the simulations it
was possible to reproduce the displacement pattern seen in the visualization experiments. Furthermore mechanical and acoustic coupled simulations proved very useful
for characterizing the sound radiation from different radiation plates.
Coupled mechanical and acoustical simulations in Comsol could be used as a
powerful design tool when designing radiation plates for a given application, since a
lot of information such as directivity and sound field characteristics can be calculated
using this tool. Apart from the information drawn from the simulations in this thesis
it would also be possible, directly in Comsol, to implement the calculation of the
Gorkov potential and from this the acoustic levitation force on a given object in the
sound field. These calculations can be done from the sound field calculation such as
the one seen in figure 6.6.
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
57
Chapter 7
Conclusions and Future Work
7.1
Conclusion
In this thesis several subjects in designing, constructing and characterizing high

power ultrasonic sources has been investigated.
In the theoretical investigation of different mechanical horn types, it was found
that the stepped horn delivers the largest vibrational amplification, which was the
ratio of the horn diameters squared. This was, using the Comsol simulation tool,
proven to be true for even large ratios of horn diameters. While the theory said
that the conical and exponential horn types would have similar amplification, it was
shown, that the expression for the conical amplification is only valid for small ratios
of diameters, while it showed to be usable for larger ratios in the exponential horn.
In simulations of the influence of the shape of the transition in a stepped horn, it
was shown that by making the transition follow a curved line, the stress in the horn
was decreased more than the amplification was decreased. For this reason the horn
with a curved transition would be able to vibrate at a larger amplitude, without
meeting its stress limit, where it would deform or break.
To facilitate a convenient way of holding the horn in a practical setup, simulations has been conducted where a mounting plate is introduced in the transition
of the stepped horn. The presence of a mounting plate showed, that in connection
with a mounting plate, the curved transition did not decrease the amplification of
the horn, but increased it at large aspect ratios, while still decreasing the maximum
stress in the horn. From these results it could be interesting to see what would
happen if the radius of the transition curve was increased.
From simulations of the stepped horn it was shown, that the width of the horn
steps has an effect on the resonance frequency of this horn step. For that reason, a
method for designing a stepped horn was used, where each step length was found
individually, ensuring that each step had the optimal length for the desired resonance
frequency.
Using this method a horn was designed to be attached to a Langevin from the
Swiss company M.P. Interconsulting.
In the experiments conducted with the designed horn, it was found that the horn
58
had a resonance frequency of 28.72kHz rather than the design frequency of 29.9kHz
used in the simulations.
To evaluate this error, changes were made to the simulations model to try to
get a more accurate result of the horn simulations. These changes showed that the
simulation would be more accurate if the mesh density of the simulation is increased.
It was found that the resonance frequency of the horn changed when meshing one
step finer than Comsols default mesh density. With more mesh refinements, the
frequency did not change.
In simulations of the support for the horns mounting plate, it was found that the
support plays a role in the resonance frequency of the horn, even though the horn
was designed to have a node at the mounting plate position. This simulation is only
conducted with the measured dimensions of the constructed horn, not with a horn
with design dimensions.
Other reasons for the inaccurate resonance frequency of the constructed horn
could be due to construction imprecision, or from deviation between the value of
Youngs modulus in the bar used to construct the test bars, an bar used for constructing the horn.
For comparison between the designed horn and a horn provided by the Langevin
transducer company (the Swiss horn), some experiments with acoustic levitation
was conducted. These experiments showed that when using the horn designed in
this project, a stronger levitation force was produced. In this setup it was possible
to levitate water drops, using a standard audio amplifier, and an excitation signal
to the Langevin transducer of 25V . If used with an amplifier more suitable for driving Langevin typed transducers the levitation force could be improved considerably.
Using the Swiss horn levitation was possible but not as strong as with the horn
constructed in this project. Levitation was also achieved with the Swiss horn with
a brass disc attached to the front of the horn.
To characterize the vibrational pattern of radiation plates several experiments
has been conducted. A low tech method, that consist of applying talcum powder to
the surface of the radiation plate, proved a fast and easy means of detecting nodal
lines on radiation plates. For more precise measurements an optical setup, based
on the theory of speckle interferometry, has been used. This setup showed a great
potential, as a way of determining nodal lines on the vibrating surfaces of a radiation
plate.
In acoustic simulations of the sound radiation of radiation plates, it was showed
that a radiation plate at resonance will radiate a far greater sound pressure than
a radiation plate driven off resonance. It was also shown that the directivity of
the radiation plate sound radiation changes when the radiation plate is driven at
resonance.
7.2
Further work
Since the horn produced in this project did not have the desired resonance frequency,
a natural next step in the work, could be to optimize the horn for the wanted
59
resonance frequency. This could be done by altering the horn already produced.
For the characterization of the horn vibrations it could be very useful to construct
a method (optical or other), to investigate the local vibration of the horn. It was
in this project tried by use of the speckle interferometry setup used in 6.2, but
unsuccessful.
The use of optical setups to measure mechanical and acoustical behavior could
also be expanded with a setup using Schlieren Imaging [24] to visualize the standing
wave field in the acoustic levitator. Using this technique it be possible to visualize
the forcefield inside the levitator, which would be most useful in designing an efficient
levitator.
To produce a strong ultrasonic source it could be interesting, to construct a
source using a resonant radiation plate, since it proved to radiate a far larger sound
pressure than the radiation plate driven off resonance. For the characterization of
these sources an optical setup for measuring absolute displacement amplitude would
be very useful. This can be obtained by expanding the optical setup already used
[25].
Furthermore the source constructed in this project could be the basis of further
experiments with acoustic levitation.
60
Appendices
APPENDIX A. MEASURING YOUNGS MODULUS OF ALUMINUM BARS
61
Appendix A
Measuring Youngs Modulus of
Aluminum bars
In this appendix an experiment for measuring Youngs Modulus is described. This
method has been used to measure Youngs modulus for the aluminum alloy used for
fabricating the mechanical horn parts in this project.
The aluminum available is not pure aluminum, but an alloy called EN AW-2011.
This alloy is purchased for metalworking and is therefore optimized for that purpose.
The alloy consists of mostly aluminum and copper, but it also has components
like iron and others (see data sheet in appendix D). The material has a density of
= 2840kg/m3 .
To measure Youngs modulus for the material, a test is advised, where the resonance frequencies of well defined rods made from the material, is measured. In
[21, p. 181] this method is known as the Resonance Method, but here the first
resonance is measured instead of the distance between resonance frequencies. Since
the pure longitudinal resonances are harmonic this is a reasonable thing to do.
cL = 2Lf
(A.1)
where cL is the propagation speed of longitudinal vibrations, L is the length of the

bar, and f is the recorded resonance frequency of the first longitudinal resonance.
By knowing the resonance frequency for the first longitudinal resonance, Youngs
modulus can be deduced from:
s
E
(A.2)
cL =
where E is Youngs modulus and is the density of the material. Finally Youngs
modulus can be calculated from this equation
E = (f 2L)2
(A.3)
This calculation assumes a pure longitudinal resonance. If this is not the case, the
combined resonance frequency will be lower than that of the pure longitudinal mode,
as described in [7]. This fact is not taken into account when directly calculating
62
Youngs modulus from the resonance frequency of the bar, but when the value of
Youngs modulus is optimized for simulations, this fact is naturally included, since
the simulations do assume any specific kind of vibrations.
The main part of the experiment for measuring Youngs modulus for the aluminum bars, is the bars mounted in a fabricated holder that supports the bar on
rubber bands (see figure A.1). For excitation of the bar a force hammer (Br
uel &
Kjr type 8203) is used. For measurement of the bars response to the excitation a
1/8 microphone (Br
uel & Kjr type 4138) is placed close to the end of the rod. By
avoiding mounting an accelerometer on the bar, it is avoided, that the weight of the
accelerometer changes the resonance frequencies of the bars.
By recording the frequency response both at the front and to the side of the test
bar, the longitudinal resonances, which are only present at the front of the bar, can
be distinguished from the transversal resonances which are present at both positions.
Equipment
Using the setup described the frequency spectra shown in figures A.2 and A.3 was
recorded.
The figure shows the spectra recorded to the side of the bars, overlaid with the
spectra recorded in front of the bar end. Displayed in this way it is clear that some
frequencies are not represented in the side spectrum; these are the longitudinal
resonance frequencies. In figure A.4 a good argument for measuring the spectra
in both the front and side position can be seen. Here the frequencies of the two
resonances are very close, and it would be difficult to distinguish which was the
longitudinal resonance, if the side spectrum was not recorded. Having both spectra
it is clear, that the higher frequency is not represented in the spectrum recorded to
the side of the bar, why it must be the longitudinal resonance frequency.
The measured longitudinal resonance frequencies are shown on table A.1. Here
Youngs modulus, calculated using equation A.3, is also displayed. The measurement
has been repeated two times (with several weeks in between) for better accuracy.
Each time the same resonance frequencies were measured.
L [mm] D [mm] f1 [Hz]
100.10
99.75
49.85
50.00
9.80
30.01
10.00
30.00
25781
25656
51578
50094
E [P a]
7.57 1010
7.44 1010
7.51 1010
7.13 1010
Table A.1 - Frequencies for longitudinal resonances in a selection of aluminum

alloy bars
From table A.1 it is seen that Youngs modulus is not calculated to be the exact
same for the different aspect ratios of the bars. The calculated Youngs modulus
is higher for the bars with higher aspect radio, than for bars with lower aspect
ratio. This points to the same conclusion as in [7], where it is shown that for wider
bars, the resonance frequency is lowered, which would in this case lead to a lower
63
calculated Youngs modulus. For this reason, and to produce a simulation model
that has good use in design purposes, the optimal Youngs modulus has been found
using simulations of the bars, with a range of values for Youngs modulus. This is
described in the next section.
Optimizing Youngs modulus for simulations

In this section an optimal value of Youngs modulus is found by means of the Comsol
simulation tool. This is done to have a better starting point of the simulations used
to design the mechanical horn. The Youngs modulus found by this method may
not be the real value for the material, but it will be the value that gives the most
accurate simulation result. Thereby it is assumed that the simulations of the horn,
will be the most accurate possible from the measured data.
To find the optimal value for Youngs modulus, the aluminum bars are simulated
with a sweep of Youngs modulus in Comsol. For each value of Youngs modulus
the resonance frequency of the four bars is calculated and stored. After the sweep is
complete the optimal value will be the one that gives the least error on the resonance
frequencies. Since there are four measurements, the combined error of the resonance
frequencies is calculated as the norm of the individual errors, the errors being the
difference between the measured and the calculated resonance frequency. The error
norm is calculated as the Euclidean norm given by
s
X
|ai (E)|2
(A.4)
kA (E)k =
i
where a ai (E) is the difference between the measured and the simulated resonance,
for a given value of E, for the ith bar.
From this simulation, the optimal value found for Youngs modulus for simulations, is E = 7.541010 . For this value the error norm has a value of kA (7.54 1010 )k =
76.6Hz.
64
(a)
(b)
Figure A.1 - Setups used for measuring the resonance frequencies of aluminum
bars. Response recorded in (a) is dominated by the longitudinal
resonances while it in (b) is dominated by the transversal resonances. The aluminum bars are mounted in rubber support.
The force hammer used is seen to the right and the microphone
is visible to the left
(a) Bar with diameter 10mm
(b) Bar with diameter 30mm
Figure A.2 - Frequency response for the bar with length 50mm
65
(a) Bar with diameter 10mm
(b) Bar with diameter 30mm
Figure A.3 - Frequency response for the bar with length 100mm
66
67
Figure A.4 - Closer look at the frequency response for the 100x10mm bar. The
close resonances for the transversal and longitudinal vibrations
can be distinguished because the response is recorded both in
front of and to the side of the aluminum bar.
APPENDIX B. OPTICAL EXPERIMENT FOR VIBRATIONAL DISPLACEMENT

PATTERNS
68
Appendix B
Optical experiment for vibrational
displacement patterns
In this appendix an experiment is described, that is used for visualizing small displacements of vibrating surfaces such as the surface of a radiating plate. The setup
is based on optical speckles and the interference of these [22, 26]. The setup is based
on the theory and practical experiments in [25], but a simpler setup has been used.
In the setup made for this project, it is not possible to do absolute measurements,
but vibrational displacement patterns can be visualized.
The setup for visualizing surface displacement, is based on a few pieces of optical
equipment and a USB digital camera. The optical equipment consist of the following:
Laser - Uniphase 1135/P - 632.8nm Helium-Neon laser
Mirror with micrometer screws
Microscope objective
Semi matte glass plate
Plain glass plate mounted in a sturdy frame
USB digital camera
Other than the optical equipment, a sturdy mounting for the test object is also
needed. It is important that the object under test is very stable mounted, since a
small displacement of the mounting will ruin the visualization of the displacement,
adding another displacement which will be smearing the image.
The setup of the equipment is shown in figure B.1
The setup functions in the following way: The light leaving the laser is reflected
on the mirror, to get a longer optical distance from the laser to the test object. After
the mirror the light passes trough a microscope objective, which expands the light
beam. The expanded beam hits the plane side of the semi matte glass plate, and is
spread from the matte side of the plate. Statistical optics say that the light spread
from a matte glass plate, will make speckles which is a pattern popularly described
as light cigars. An example of speckle a pattern is shown in figure B.2.

PATTERNS
69
Figure B.1 - Setup for visualizing the vibrational displacement
Figure B.2 - The speckle pattern formed by a laser beam diffracted by a semi
matte glass plate
The speckles emitted from the semi matte glass plate are reflected partially by the
plane glass plate, and from the test object as well. The interference between these
two reflections is what enables one to visualize the displacement of the test object.
By recording a reference pattern of the resulting speckle interference pattern, with
the USB camera without excitation of the test object, and subtracting this image
from the patterns recorded with excitation, it is possible to visualize the displacement
of the test object.
When excitation is applied the areas where displacement occurs will have an
intensity difference between the reference pattern and the excited pattern. Since an
USB camera can only record absolute values of intensity, the areas with displacement
is shown in the difference image as an illuminated area. An example of this is shown
in figure B.3 which shows the vibration pattern of a brass radiation plate of radius
25mm. The figure also shows the reference image B.3(a) where the test object can
still be seen.

PATTERNS
70
Figure B.3 - Image recorded with the USB camera (a) reference image and
(b) image recorded with excitation with the reference image subtracted.
APPENDIX C. DATA SHEET FOR LANGEVIN TRANSDUCER
71
Appendix C
Data sheet for Langevin
transducer
On the next page the data sheet for the Langevin transducer used in this project
can be seen. The transducer is made by a Swiss company called M.P. Interconsulting. The specific transducer used in this project has a resonance frequency of
f = 29.9kHz.
MPI-3025F-30H
Type
419
(g)
Weight
154
mm
Length
Maximal-
30/25
(mm)
/ceramic-
M10X35
(mm)
Bolt
Joint
30
(Fs0.5kHz)
Frequency
30
(!)
min.
Impedance
5500
(C10%PF)
Capacitance
Input
300
(W)
power
Al7075
Metal
mass
Front
APPENDIX D. DATA SHEET FOR ALUMINUM EN AW 2011
73
Appendix D
Data sheet for aluminum EN AW
2011
On the next page the data sheet for the aluminum alloy used for the fabricated
parts can be seen. The data sheet does not contain a value of Youngs modulus, and
for that reason it has been necessary to determine this value experimentally. The
experiment for determining Youngs modulus for the aluminum alloy, is described
in appendix A
2011 - ALUMINIUM ALLOY

Typical Analysis
(Ave. values %)
Cu
Fe
Pb
Bi
Si
Zn
Al
5.5
0.7
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.3
92.0
NEAREST
STANDARD
BS
ISO
EN AW-2011
Al Cu6 BiPb
DESCRIPTION
Heat treatable alloy with high strength, good machinability and fatigue strength.
Standard condition of supply - Temper T4.
APPLICATIONS
Applications where good machinability and high strength are required, such as
machine parts, bolts, nuts, screws etc.
MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES
FABRICATION
PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL
PROPERTIES
Temper
Tensile
strength
MPa
0.2%
Proof
stress MPa
Elong.A5
%
Elong.A50
%
Hardness
Vickers
T3
310-365
260-290
10-15
10-15
100
T4
320-350
270-270
10-18
18
95
T6
310-395
230-300
8-12
10-12
115
T8
370-420
275-315
10-13
10-12
120
Machinability
Excellent
Deep drawing
Poor
Spinning
Poor
Extruding
Good
Density
2.84 (kg/dm3)
Melting point (Liquidus)
645oC
Melting point (Solidus,

Eutectic)
Coefficient of thermal
expansion
540oC
Thermal conductivity
177-W m-1K-1
Specific heat capacity
863 JKg-1 K-1
Electrical resistivity
38 n m
Electrical conductivity
45% IACS
23-mm-1K-1
APPENDIX E. WORK SKETCH OF DESIGNED HORN
75
Appendix E
Work sketch of designed horn
In this appendix a work sketch of the horn designed for experimental validation can
be seen.
APPENDIX E. WORK SKETCH OF DESIGNED HORN
Figure E.1 - Horn designed for experimental validation
76
APPENDIX F. EQUIPMENT LIST
Appendix F
Equipment list
This appendix consists of a list of equipment used throughout this project.
The used Pulse system consist of the following
Br
uel & Kjr Pulse Front end in frame 3560-D
Controller module - type 7536
Power module - type 2826
Input/Output module - type 3110
Pulse software version 14.0.0.124
Pulse USB dongle with FFT Analysis license
The Br
uel & Kjr 1/8 microphone used is used in the following setup
Br
uel & Kjr Type 4138 - 1/8 Pressure-field Microphone
Br
uel & Kjr Type 2670 - preamplifier for 1/4 microphone
Br
uel & Kjr Type UA-0160 - 1/8 to 1/4 Adapter
The Force hammer used is used in a combination of the following equipment
Br
uel & Kjr Type 8203 - Force hammer
Br
uel & Kjr Type 2647 A - Charge to DeltaTron Converter
Also used are:
Agilent 34405 A 5 Digit Multimeter
Kikusui 65M Hz Oscilloscope cos 5060
Yamaha Natural Sound Amplifier AX-396
Uniphase 1135/P 632.8nm Helium-Neon laser
Br
uel & Kjr Type 4231 - Calibrator for condenser microphone
77
APPENDIX G. CD CONTAINING THE THESIS AND VIDEOS OF LEVITATION

EXPERIMENTS
78
Appendix G
CD containing the thesis and
videos of levitation experiments
This CD contains the following:
The thesis: High Power Ultrasound Sources.pdf
Video of acoustic levitation experiments using a source with Swiss horn with
a brass disc attached to the surface.
Levitation.wmv - Fine tuning of the reflector and levitation of polystyrene
balls
Videos of acoustic levitation using the source constructed in this project.
Levitation II.wmv - Powder experiment and levitation of polystyrene ball
Levitation II - Bare hands.wmv - Levitation of polystyrene balls, with
crude instruments: The fingers
Levitation II - Water drops.wmv - Levitation of water
The videos can be played in Windows Media player or seen on http://www.
youtube.com/shkristensen
BIBLIOGRAPHY
79
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practical uses. CRC Press, 2009.
[2] J.A. Gallego-Juarez, G. Rodriguez-Corral, and L. Gaete-Garreton. An ultrasonic transducer for high power applications in gases. Ultrasonics, 16(6):267
271, 1978.
[3] J. A. Gallego-Juarez, G. Rodrguez-Corral, E. Riera-Franco de Sarabia,
C. Campos-Pozuelo, F. Vazquez-Martnez, and V. M. Acosta-Aparicio. A
macrosonic system for industrial processing. Ultrasonics, 38(1-8):331 336,
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81

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Design, construction and characterization of high

power ultrasound sources

3 Effect of mechanical horn shapes

4 Design of stepped horn for Langevin transducer based ultrasonic

Stepped horn designed for practical experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

6 Radiation plate assessments

7 Conclusions and Future Work

A Measuring Youngs Modulus of Aluminum bars

B Optical experiment for vibrational displacement patterns

C Data sheet for Langevin transducer

D Data sheet for aluminum EN AW 2011

E Work sketch of designed horn

G CD containing the thesis and videos of levitation experiments

Speed of sound in air

The structure of high power ultrasonic transducers

The Langevin transducer

The Langevin transducer is a mechanical vibration source invented by the French

Figure 1.1 - The elements of a typical ultrasonic transducer

Figure 1.2 - Setup of a Langevin type transducer

diameter of D = 30mm and a resonance frequency of f = 29.9kHz. The transducer

Figure 1.3 - Langevin transducer used in this project

Mechanical horns is a means of amplifying mechanical vibrations. In ultrasonic

Radiation plates attached to the mechanical horn of a ultrasonic transducer is a

Objective of the project

Designing a high power ultrasonic transducer involves a range of different steps.

Vibrations in bars with circular cross section

For calculation of longitudinal vibrations in bars, it is commonly used, to use the

and stress given by

where w is a measure of displacement along the bar, x is a measure of distance and

where L is the length of the bar.

Transversal bending waves vibrations

Figure 2.2 - Example of a transversal resonance in a fixed-free circular bar

where G is the shear modulus, determined by the material composition. G has in

Radial vibrations are mechanical vibrations that runs in a direction perpendicular

Radiation from a circular piston

By vibrations in discs is in this thesis meant a bending vibration traveling in the

(a) First axisymmetric resonance

(b) Second axisymmetric resonance

(c) Non axisymmetric resonance

Simulation in Comsol Multiphysics

When investigating the behavior of ultrasonic transducers it is widely used to base

When simulating a given geometry in Comsol, different simulations can be run to

Frequency response simulations

Simulation of coupled physics

An important strength of Comsol Multiphysics is the ability to couple simulations

(a) Fixed displacement

(b) Fixed force

where F is the force on the object.

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Figure 3.1 - First resonance in an axisymmetric simulation of a conical horn

Inserting equation 3.4 in 3.2 the simple equation

is achieved for the amplification of a conical horn.

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Figure 3.2 - Simulation of the absolute amplification in a conical horn. Only

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Figure 3.4 - Example of an exponential horn

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Figure 3.6 - Resonance of exponential horn with an aspect ratio of 7

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Nodal position in stepped horn

CHAPTER 3. EFFECT OF MECHANICAL HORN SHAPES

Figure 3.8 - Simulated and theoretical amplification (absolute values) of a