Acoustic slow waves and the consolidation transition

Abstract

We have investigated the ultrasonicproperties of unconsolidated (loose) glass beads and of lightly fused (consolidated) glass beads when the pore space is saturated with water. At a frequency of 500 kHz we have observed a single compressional wave in the former whose speed is 1.79 km/s and two distinct compressional waves with speeds 2.81 km/s and 0.96 km/s in the latter. The Biot theory is shown to give an accurate description of this phenomenon. We also analyze the acoustics of low temperature He ii in packed powder superleaks; either the fast wave for unconsolidated systems or the slow wave in a highly consolidated (fused) frame may be considered to be the 4th sound mode. In all such systems, the acoustic properties can be very simply understood by considering the velocities of propagation as continuous functions of the elastic moduli of the solid skeletal frames.