Physical constraints on the non-dimensional absorption coefficients of compressional and shear waves for viscoelastic cylinders.

BACKGROUND: Normalized absorption coefficients for the longitudinal and shear waves in viscoelastic (polymer-type) materials, extracted from non-fictional experimental data showed anomalous effects, such as the generation of a negative radiation force (NRF) in plane progressive waves, negative energy absorption and extinction efficiencies and a scattering enhancement, not in agreement with energy conservation.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work is directed towards analyzing those anomalies from the standpoint of energy conservation. Physical conditions which demonstrate that the ratio of the normalized absorption coefficients cannot be of arbitrary value but depends on the ratio of the square of the compressional and shear wave speeds, are established and discussed.

METHOD: The necessary physical condition for the validity of the linear viscoelastic (VE) model for any passive (i.e. that does not generate energy) polymeric cylinder with an ultrasonic absorption of hysteresis-type submerged in a non-viscous fluid requires that the absorption efficiency be positive (Qabs >0) since there are no active radiating sources inside the core material. This condition imposes restrictions on the values attributed to the normalized absorption coefficients for the compressional and shear-wave wavenumbers for each partial-wave mode n. The forbidden values produce anomalous/unphysical NRF, negative absorption and extinction efficiencies, as well as an enhancement of the scattering efficiency using plane progressive waves, not in agreement with energy conservation.

RESULTS: Based on the partial wave series expansion method in cylindrical coordinates, numerical results for the radiation force, extinction, absorption and scattering energy efficiencies assuming plane progressive wave incidence are performed for three VE polymer cylinders immersed in a non-viscous host liquid (i.e. water) with particular emphasis on the shear-wave absorption coefficient, the dimensionless size parameter ka (where k is the wavenumber and a is the radius of the cylinder) and the partial-wave mode number n. Physical and mathematical conditions are established for the non-dimensional absorption coefficients of the longitudinal and shear waves for a cylinder (i.e. the 2D case) in terms of the sound velocities in the VE material. The physical condition for the spherical 3D case is also noted.

CONCLUSION: For passive materials, the physical conditions must be always satisfied to allow accurate computations of the acoustic radiation force, torque, and energy absorption, extinction and scattering efficiencies for VE cylinders having a hysteresis type of absorption (such as polymers and plastics), and submerged in a non-viscous fluid. The physical conditions must be always satisfied regardless of the shape of the incident field. They also serve to validate and verify experimental data for VE materials and test the accuracy of related numerical computations.