Sound radiation from a cylindrical duct. Part 1. Ray structure of the duct modes and of the external field

Abstract

This paper determines the ray structure of a spinning acoustic mode propagating inside a semi-infinite circular cylindrical duct, and thereby determines the ray structure of the field radiated from the end of the duct. Inside the duct, but outside of a caustic cylindrical surface, the rays are piecewise linear helices; on striking the rim of the end-face of the duct, these rays produce ‘Keller cones’ of diffracted rays. The cones determine the structure of the radiated field: for example, no rays penetrate two cone-shaped far-field quiet zones centred on the duct axis; two rays pass through each point in a forward loud zone; and one ray passes through each point in a rearward loud zone. The two rays through each point in the forward loud zone interfere to produce an oscillatory directivity pattern. One quarter of the rays on each cone point back inside the duct and produce the reflected field. Thus the rim of the end-face of the duct acts as a ‘ring source’, in which the radiated and reflected fields have their origin. Every propagating duct mode determines a polar angle and an azimuthal angle; these are taken as parameters specifying the mode and are used to calculate the positions and angles of all the rays. The mathematical method on which the paper is based is Debye's approximation for the Bessel function which appears in the expression for the duct modes; the approximation shows also that the duct contains a region of smooth helical rays on which the field consists of inhomogeneous waves: this region is the inner cylinder, lying inside the annulus of piecewise linear helical rays. The results of the paper are very promising for the application of Keller's geometrical theory of diffraction to detailed calculations of the sound radiated from aeroengine ducts. An alternative description of the field, using Cargill's meridional rays, is summarized.