Nano-crystalline inclusions as a low-pass filter for thermal transport in a-Si

We use atomistic simulations to study the resonant acoustic modes and compare different calculations of the acoustic mean-free path in amorphous systems with nanometric crystalline spherical inclusions. We show that the resonant acoustic properties are not a simple combination of the vibrations in the inclusions and in the amorphous matrix. The presence of the inclusion affects the transport properties mainly in the frequency range separating simple scattering from multiple scattering processes. However, propagation of acoustic wavepackets is spatially heterogeneous and shows that the amorphous/crystalline interface acts as a low energy pass filter slowing down the high kinetic energy motion whatever the vibration frequency. These heterogeneities cannot be catched by the mean free path, but still they must play an important role in thermal transport, thus raising the question of the correct modeling of thermal transport in composite systems

Prediction of the dynamic environment of spacecraft components. Part 2 - Acoustic and structural path transmission through two models of a shroud-enclosed spacecraft Final report

Acoustic and structural path transmission through shroud enclosed spacecraf

On the Relationship between Transmission Power and Capacity of an Underwater Acoustic Communication Channel

The underwater acoustic channel is characterized by a path loss that depends not only on the transmission distance, but also on the signal frequency. As a consequence, transmission bandwidth depends on the transmission distance, a feature that distinguishes an underwater acoustic system from a terrestrial radio system. The exact relationship between power, transmission band, distance and capacity for the Gaussian noise scenario is a complicated one. This work provides a closed-form approximate model for 1) power consumption, 2) band-edge frequency and 3) bandwidth as functions of distance and capacity required for a data link. This approximate model is obtained by numerical evaluation of analytical results which takes into account physical models of acoustic propagation loss and ambient noise. The closed-form approximations may become useful tools in the design and analysis of underwater acoustic networks.Comment: 6 pages, 9 Figures, Awaiting acceptance to IEEE Oceans 08 (Conference), Kobe, Japa

Underwater acoustic slant range measurements related to weather and sea state

Underwater range measurements are key factor in underwater acoustic positioning, used in Long Base-Line (LBL) or Ultra Short Base-Line (USBL) computing techniques. These measurements are commonly carried out through acoustic communications between modems and their accuracy can be affected by different factors, such as sea state, weather conditions, and obstacles in the line of sight propagation. This is especially important in shallow waters areas, where others phenomena such as multi-path have to be considered. Therefore, range accuracy and the associated position estimation errors are an important area of research. Here, we addressed the relation between range measurements variability and sea state (i.e. currents or waves height) as proxy of real-world conditions, affecting acoustic positioning performances. For that purpose, a long-term deployment have been carried out in the underwater cabled observatory OBSEA, which provide different measurements of the sea and weather state.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Printed Receive Coils with High Acoustic Transparency for Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound.

In magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) therapy sound waves are focused through the body to selectively ablate difficult to access lesions and tissues. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner non-invasively tracks the temperature increase throughout the tissue to guide the therapy. In clinical MRI, tightly fitted hardware comprised of multichannel coil arrays are required to capture high quality images at high spatiotemporal resolution. Ablating tissue requires a clear path for acoustic energy to travel but current array materials scatter and attenuate acoustic energy. As a result coil arrays are placed outside of the transducer, clear of the beam path, compromising imaging speed, resolution, and temperature accuracy of the scan. Here we show that when coil arrays are fabricated by additive manufacturing (i.e., printing), they exhibit acoustic transparency as high as 89.5%. This allows the coils to be placed in the beam path increasing the image signal to noise ratio (SNR) five-fold in phantoms and volunteers. We also characterize printed coil materials properties over time when submerged in the water required for acoustic coupling. These arrays offer high SNR and acceleration capabilities, which can address current challenges in treating head and abdominal tumors allowing MRgFUS to give patients better outcomes

Wind-tunnel acoustic results of two rotor models with several tip designs

A three-phase research program has been undertaken to study the acoustic signals due to the aerodynamic interaction of rotorcraft main rotors and tail rotors. During the first phase, two different rotor models with several interchangeable tips were tested in the Langley 4- by 7-Meter Tunnel on the U.S. Army rotor model system. An extensive acoustic data base was acquired, with special emphasis on blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise. The details of the experimental procedure, acoustic data acquisition, and reduction are documented. The overall sound pressure level (OASPL) of the high-twist rotor systems is relatively insensitive to flight speed but generally increases with rotor tip-path-plane angle. The OASPL of the high-twist rotors is dominated by acoustic energy in the low-frequency harmonics. The OASPL of the low-twist rotor systems shows more dependence on flight speed than the high-twist rotors, in addition to being quite sensitive to tip-path-plane angle. An integrated band-limited sound pressure level, limited by 500 to 3000 Hz, is a useful metric to quantify the occurrence of BVI noise. The OASPL of the low-twist rotors is strongly influenced by the band-limited sound levels, indicating that the blade-vortex impulsive noise is a dominant noise source for this rotor design. The midfrequency acoustic levels for both rotors show a very strong dependence on rotor tip-path-plane angle. The tip-path-plane angle at which the maximum midfrequency sound level occurs consistently decreases with increasing flight speed. The maximum midfrequency sound level measured at a given location is constant regardless of the flight speed