Until this present work, the acoustics of waveguides has been divided into two broadly distinct fields---linear acoustics in ducts of complex geometry such as those with curvature or varying width, and nonlinear acoustics restricted to simple geometry ducts without curvature or flare. This PhD unites these distinct branches to give a complete mathematical description of weakly nonlinear wave propagation in a general shaped duct in both two and three dimensions. Such ducts have important applications---the clearest example is that of brass instruments, where it has been demonstrated that nonlinear wave steepening gives rise to the characteristic 'brassy' sounds of, for example, the trombone. As the ducts of these instruments have a very complicated geometry involving curvature, torsion and varying width, the goal of the PhD is to address what effect, if any, such changes in duct geometry have on the acoustic properties of such instruments. Other potential applications include the study of acoustics in curved aircraft engine intakes and even the nonlinear sound propagation through the trunk of an elephant. The first results chapter is focused on the exposition of the method used for the remainder of the paper, with the introduction of a new ``nonlinear admittance term'' as well as the associated algebra for it. An elegant notation for the nonlinear algebra is also developed, greatly simplifying the equations. The method is applied to one and two dimensional ducts and some analytical results are derived relating the work to previously published results. Numerical results are also presented and compared to other sources. The concept of nonlinear reflectance is also introduced---illustrating the effect of wave amplitude on the amount of energy reflected in a duct. The next results chapter builds on this work extending it to three dimensions. Numerical results are presented for three characteristic ducts---a curved duct, a horn and a helical duct, being one of the first works to study acoustics in helical pipes for both linear and nonlinear sound propagation. The final results chapter, utilising all of the previous work, addresses the problem of an open ended duct of finite length with nonlinear effects included. Results are compared with the linear results from the Wiener-Hopf method and new results are presented illustrating the effect of geometry and nonlinearity on the resonances of finite length waveguides culminating in the study of the resonances of a trombone.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:767751 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | McTavish, James Peter |
| Contributors | Brambley, Edward James |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288423 |
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