50 3 Geometrical Acoustics

-·~a--

Fig. 3.6. Spherical wave Fig. 3.7. Cylindrical-mirror

incident onto a concave effect from a forging borehole
mirror

The plus sign applies to the concave mirror and the minus sign to the convex mir-
ror. The focal distance should always be taken as positive.
If, in the case of a concave mirror, a negative image distance is obtained, this means a vir-
tual image point behind the mirror. Conversely, if the direction of the rays is taken to be re-
versed (incident, convergent spherical wave) with apparent origin behind the concave mirror,
the distance a should be given the negative sign.
In the case of the convex dispersing mirror all quantities should be taken with the positive
sign. Either the image point or the centre of the spherical wave will always appear to be be-
hind the mirror.
In order to calculate the acoustic pressure of the reflected wave, Eqs. (3.1) and
(3.2) are used in which the distance from the corresponding image point must now
be taken. This image point, or image line in the case of a cylindrical wave, is the
source from which the further propagation process can be recalculated, independ-
ently of the generation of the image point.
Consider a spherical wave striking a spherical mirror or a cylindrical mirror.
The sound pressures of the reflected waves as a function of the distance x from the
vertex are:
Spherical wave on spherical mirror on cylindrical mirror

l!.l f PI ~ f (3.5)
a x+f(l+x/a) -;;- (l+x/a)[x+f(l+x/a)]

The upper sign applies to concave mirrors, and the lower sign to convex mirrors. PI
is the sound pressure of the incident spherical wave at unit distance from the cen-
tre, so that PI / a is its sound pressure at the vertex of the mirror. In the case of a
spherical wave on a cylindrical mirror, which is the more important one in practice,
neither a purely spherical wave nor a cylindrical wave is produced but a combina-
tion of two different cylindrical waves which, in accordance with the two terms be-
low the root sign, have also two different image points.
For quantities under the root signs only absolute values will be calculated. In
the case of the concentrating mirror the nominator can disappear in all terms, viz.
at the real image points, where theoretically the acoustic pressure would become in-
finite. In reality the geometric construction fails here because of diffraction pheno-
mena. The true concentration and increase of the sound pressure depends on the
wavelength.