Outer Acoustic Streaming Flow Driven by Asymmetric Acoustic Resonances

While boundary-driven acoustic streaming resulting from the interaction of sound, fluids and walls in symmetric acoustic resonances have been intensively studied in the literature, the acoustic streaming fields driven by asymmetric acoustic resonances remain largely unexplored. Here, we present a theoretical and numerical analysis of outer acoustic streaming flows generated over a fluid–solid interface above which a symmetric or asymmetric acoustic standing wave is established. The asymmetric standing wave is defined by a shift of acoustic pressure in its magnitude, i.e., S0, and the resulting outer acoustic streaming is analyzed using the limiting velocity method. We show that, in symmetric acoustic resonances (S0 = 0), on a slip-velocity boundary, the limiting velocities always drive fluids from the acoustic pressure node towards adjacent antinodes. In confined geometry where a slip-velocity condition is applied to two parallel walls, the characteristics of the obtained outer acoustic streaming replicates that of Rayleigh streaming. In an asymmetric standing wave where S0 ≠ 0, however, it is found that the resulting limiting velocity node (i.e., the dividing point of limiting velocities) on the slip-velocity boundary locates at a different position to acoustic pressure node and, more importantly, is shown to be independent of S0, enabling spatial separation of acoustic radiation force and acoustic streaming flows. The results show the richness of boundary-driven acoustic streaming pattern variations that arise in standing wave fields and have potentials in many microfluidics applications such as acoustic streaming flow control and particle manipulation.

Suppression of Acoustic Resonances in BST-Based Bulk-Ceramic Varactors by Addition of Magnesium Borate

This work presents a method for reducing acoustic resonances in ferroelectric barium strontium titanate (BST)-based bulk ceramic varactors, which are capable of operation in high-power matching circuits. Two versions of parallel-plate varactors are manufactured here: one with pure BST and one with 10 vol-% magnesium borate, Mg3B2O6 (MBO). Each varactor includes a 0.85-mm-thick ferroelectric layer. Acoustic resonances that are present in the pure BST varactor are strongly suppressed in the BST-MBO varactor and, hence, the Q-factor is increased over a wide frequency range by the addition of small amounts of a low-dielectric-constant (LDK) MBO. Although the tunability is reduced due to the presence of non-tunable MBO, the increased Q-factor extends the varactor’s availability for low-loss and high-power applications.

Subglottal pressure oscillations in anechoic and resonant conditions and their influence on excised larynx phonations

Excised larynges serve as natural models for studying behavior of the voice source. Acoustic resonances inside the air-supplying tubes below the larynx (i.e., subglottal space), however, interact with the vibratory behavior of the larynges and obscure their inherent vibration properties. Here, we explore a newly designed anechoic subglottal space which allows removing its acoustic resonances. We performed excised larynx experiments using both anechoic and resonant subglottal spaces in order to analyze and compare, for the very first time, the corresponding subglottal pressures, electroglottographic and radiated acoustic waveforms. In contrast to the resonant conditions, the anechoic subglottal pressure waveforms showed negligible oscillations during the vocal fold contact phase, as expected. When inverted, these waveforms closely matched the inverse filtered radiated sound waveforms. Subglottal resonances modified also the radiated sound pressures (Level 1 interactions). Furthermore, they changed the fundamental frequency (fo) of the vocal fold oscillations and offset phonation threshold pressures (Level 2 interactions), even for subglottal resonance frequencies 4–10 times higher than fo. The obtained data offer the basis for better understanding the inherent vibratory properties of the vocal folds, for studying the impact of structure-acoustic interactions on voice, and for validation of computational models of voice production.