Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-24T12:20:33.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An analytic model of sound production by raindrops

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Michael S. Longuet-Higgins
Michael S. Longuet-Higgins
Affiliation:
Center for Studies of Nonlinear Dynamics, La Jolla Institute, 7855 Fay Avenue. Suite 320, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Observations of the cavity produced by a droplet of rain falling on a plane water surface show that the cavity often takes the form of an inverted cone. In the present paper we discuss a simple analytic expression for the corresponding fluid flow.

The main source of rain noise has been found to occur when the flow entrains an air bubble at the vertex of the cone. In this paper we show that the magnitude of the sound produced by the fluid flow in the present model is consistent with observation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 214 , May 1990 , pp. 395 - 410
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crapper, G. D. 1957 An exact solution for progressive capillary waves of arbitrary amplitude. J. Fluid Mech. 96, 417–445.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1983 Bubbles, breaking waves and hyperbolic jets at a free surface. J. Fluid Mech. 127, 103–121.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1988 Limiting forms for capillary-gravity waves. J. Fluid Mech. 194, 351–375.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1989a Monopole emission of sound by asymmetric bubble oscillations. Part 1. Normal modes. J. Fluid Mech. 201, 525–541.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1989b Monopole emission of sound by asymmetric bubble oscillations. Part 2. An initial-value problem. J. Fluid Mech. 201, 543–565.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1989c Some integral theorems relating to the oscillations of bubbles. J. Fluid Mech. 204, 159–166.Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1989d On the sound field due to an oscillating bubble near an indented free surface. J. Fluid Mech. (submitted).Google Scholar
Longuet-Higgins, M. S. 1990 Bubble noise spectra. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 652–661.Google Scholar
Nystuen, J. A. 1986 Rainfall measurements using underwater ambient noise. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 79, 972–982.Google Scholar
Oguz, H. N. & Prosperetti, A. 1989a Bubble entrainment by the impact of drops on liquid surfaces (preprint, May 1989).
Oguz, H. N. & Prosperetti, A. 1989b Bubble oscillations in the vicinity of a nearby plane free surface. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (submitted).Google Scholar
Prosperetti, A., Crum, L. A. & Pumphrey, H. C. 1989 The underwater noise of rain. J. Geophys. Res. 94, 3255–3259.Google Scholar
Pumphrey, H. C. & Crum, L. A. 1988 Acoustic emissions associated with drop impacts. In Sea Surface Sound (ed. B. R. Kerman), pp. 463–483. Dordrecht, Reidel, 639 pp.
Pumphrey, H. C. & Crum, L. A. 1989 Sources of ambient noise in the ocean: an experimental investigation. Univ. of Mississippi, Tech. Rep. NCPA LC.011989, 96 pp.Google Scholar
Pumphrey, H. C., Crum, L. A. & Bjorno, L. 1989 Underwater sound produced by individual drop impacts and rainfall. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 1518–1526.Google Scholar
Scrimger, J. A. 1985 Underwater noise caused by precipitation. Nature 318, 647–649.Google Scholar
Scrimger, J. A., Evans, D. J., McBean, G. A., Farmer, D. M. & Kerman, B. R. 1987 Underwater noise due to rain, hail and snow. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 81, 79–86.Google Scholar
Scrimger, J. A., Evans, D. J. & Yee, W. 1989 Underwater noise due to rain – open ocean measurements. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 726–731.Google Scholar
Vanden-Broeck, J.-M. 1984 Nonlinear gravity—capillary standing waves in water of arbitrary uniform depth. J. Fluid Mech. 139, 97–104.Google Scholar
Wenz, G. M. 1962 Acoustic ambient noise in the ocean: spectra and sources. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 34, 1936–1956.Google Scholar