Pulsation Oscillations of Cavities in Rubber

Abstract

The oscillation behavior of a spherical cavity in an infinite elastic medium is calculated for the case of an incident spherical dilatational wave entirely reflected at the cavity walls. It is shown that there exists for every Poisson's constant 0⩽σ⩽0.5 a frequency for which the amplitude of the oscillating cavity walls becomes a maximum. It is also shown that the amplitude resonance curves are symmetrical and that, assuming loss‐free material, they have a finite half‐width, which is caused by radiation losses and depends only on the ratio of shear wave and dilatational wave velocity. Pulsation oscillations of spherical, rotational‐elliptical, cylindrical, and cubic cavities in rubber blocks were examined experimentally. The pulsation oscillations were excited by means of a sound source coupled to the surface of the rubber block. The sound pressure inside the cavities was measured with a probe microphone. The experimental results for spherical cavities are compared with the theory. Good agreement is found with respect to the resonance frequencies.