Re-radiation of acoustic waves from the A0 wave on a submerged elastic shell

We consider evacuated thin semi-infinite shells immersed in a fluid, which may be either of cylindrical shape with a hemispherical shell endcap, or formed two-dimensionally by semi-infinite parallel plates joined together by a semi-cylinder. The connected shell portions are joined in a manner to satisfy continuity but with a discontinuous radius of curvature. Acoustic waves are considered incident along the axis of symmetry (say the z axis) onto the curved portion of the shell, where they, at the critical angle of coincidence, generate Lamb and Stoneley-type waves in the shell. Computations were carried out using a code developed by Cao et al. [Chinese J. Acoust. 14, 317 (1995)] and was used in order to computationally visualize the waves in the fluid that have been re-radiated by the shell waves a the critical angle. The frequency range was below that of the lowest Lamb wave, and only the A(0) wave (and partly the So wave) was observed to re-radiate into the fluid under our assumptions. The results will be compared to experimental results in which the re-radiated waves are optically visualized by the Schardin-Cranz schlieren method. (c) 2005 Acoustical Society of America.