Nonlinear Acoustics

This open access book is an introductory text on the theory of nonlinear acoustics authored by experts on their respective topics. It is written at a level appropriate for a graduate course on nonlinear acoustics, and it also serves as a useful resource for scientists and engineers. Consistent notation is employed for the principal symbols, and there is extensive cross-referencing between chapters. Chapters 1 through 8 develop the physical concepts, mathematical models, and classical methods of solution that form the theoretical framework for nonlinear acoustics. These chapters, or selected portions, form an appropriate core for an introductory course. While the emphasis is on nonlinear sound waves in fluids, Chapter 9 provides an introduction to nonlinear elastic waves in isotropic solids. Chapters 10 through 15 cover applications and additional methodologies encountered in nonlinear acoustics that include perturbation and numerical methods, ray theory for inhomogeneous moving media, statistical and parametric phenomena, and biomedical applications. The book is relevant to studies of therapeutic ultrasound, blast waves and jet noise, nondestructive testing, parametric array loudspeakers, particle manipulation with acoustic radiation force, and other applications involving nonlinear acoustics. 

This is an open access book.

Mark F. Hamilton is the W. R. Woolrich Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Research Professor at Applied Research Laboratories, at The University of Texas at Austin.  He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, his M.S. and Ph.D. in Acoustics from Penn State, and then spent a year in the Department of Mathematics at University of Bergen in Norway before becoming a faculty member at UT Austin in 1985.  His career has been devoted to basic research in nonlinear acoustics.  He served as President of both the Acoustical Society of America and the International Commission for Acoustics.  The ASA awarded him its Helmholtz-Rayleigh Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics and Biomedical Acoustics, and subsequently its Gold Medal.

David T. Blackstock is the late E. P. Schoch Professor Emeritus in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was also Research Professor at Applied Research Laboratories.  He received his B.S and M.A. in Physics from UT Austin, and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University, after which he worked for General Dynamics, and was a faculty member in Electrical Engineering at University of Rochester, before joining UT Austin in 1970.  Throughout his career he made many fundamental contributions to nonlinear acoustics.  He served as President of both the Acoustical Society of America and the International Commission for Acoustics.  The ASA awarded him its Silver Medal in Physical Acoustics, and subsequently its Gold Medal.