A Study of Acoustic Transients in Water

Abstract

The study of acoustic transients and shock waves has long been a matter of great interest at Kalamazoo College, due primarily to the efforts of Dr. Wright. Studies in the past have included experiments with spark discharges in air, and pressure waves produced by the well known shock tube. In 1964, student Ward Riley did preliminary work towards expanding the scope of these investigations to include the study of sound in water. His work deals mainly with the alterations of transducer response characteristics due to a change in medium, namely from air to water. Much of his work is theoretical, involving absolute calibration of· transducer response in terms of pressure. This present paper is not: an attempt to repeat his work. It has, instead, two different objectives. First, it investigates several variables which affect electrostatic transducer response; secondly, it attempts to provide a means of produclng and detecting acoustic transients in water such that these variables are controlled. Many strange, effects are uncovered in this work; it makes no pretense of accounting for them all.