Acoustic radiation from a shell-encapsulated baffled cylindrical cap

An exact study of radiation of an acoustic field due to radial/axial vibrations of a baffled cylindrical piston, eccentrically positioned within a fluid-filled thin cylindrical elastic shell, into an external fluid medium is presented. This configuration, which is a realistic idealization of a liquid-filled cylindrical acoustic lens with a focal point inside the lens when used as a sound projector, is of practical importance with a multitude of possible applications in underwater acoustics and ocean engineering. The formulation utilizes the appropriate wave field expansions along with the translational addition theorems for cylindrical wave functions to develop a closed-form solution in the form of an infinite series. Numerical results reveal the key effects of excitation frequency, cap angle, radiator position (eccentricity), dynamics of the elastic shell, and cap surface velocity distribution on sound radiation.