Acoustic reflection and transmission characteristics

for thin plates

G. R. Barnard, J. L. Bardin, and J. W. Whiteley*

AppliedResearch
Laboratories,
The University
of Texasat Austin,Austin,Texas78712
(Received 1 November 1974)

A method for determining the acousticproperties of thin plates is described. Existing theoretical
expressionsare usedto calculatetransmissionand reflection coefficientsfor soundwavesstriking
the plates at arbitrary anglesof incidence. Theory is substantiatedby experimentaldata, and
refined valuesfor absorptioncoefficient and shearvelocity are obtained by combiningtheory and
experiment. Materialstested were Absonic-A,plexiglass,and polyethylene.
Subject Classification: 30.30, 30.50; 20.30.

INTRODUCTION the boundaries and makes allowance for the incident

plane wave's striking a boundary at arbitrary incidence.
The usefulness of a material in underwater sound Absorption is usually included in theoretical equations
applications often depends on its reflection, transmis- by allowing the wavenumber to be complex. This modi-
sion, and absorption properties. These materials may fication is usually not made until after final expressions
be used as transducer windows, sonar domes, lining for for transmission and reflection coefficients have been
test tanks, and sound reflectors. derived from more basic considerations of particle
velocities and stress components. In this study, a more
It would be desirable if, knowing certain physical con-
rigorous approach was taken by deriving the expressions
stants of a material, one could predict the reflection for reflection and transmission coefficients with the
and transmission coefficients of the material. Several
inclusion of absorptive terms in the initial expressions
authors•'•' havepresentedtheoriesthat predict theseco- for longitudinal and transverse waves in the medium.
efficients for the case of a plane wave incident on the
The results were identical to the expressions derived
material in a normal direction. Other authors s-5 dis-
by Brekhovskikh if one includes absorption by making
cuss the case of plane waves striking the material at
the wavenumber complex in the final expressions.
arbitrary angles of incidence. Since the treatment by
Brekhovskikh
s appearsto be the moststraightforward The case of a single solid layer surrounded by liquid
approach to the subject, it is used in this paper to cal- media is shown in Fig. 1. The incident pressure wave
culate transmission and reflection coefficients. is designated Pt; Pr is the reflected wave and Pt is the
wave transmitted through the layer. The transmission
A test system was devised to experimentally deter- and reflection coefficients for this case are given by
mine the reflection and transmission coefficients of dif-
ferent materials. These values were then compared
with theoretical predictions. The comparison of theo- M + + ]
retical and measured values indicated that considera-
and
tion had to be given to absorption in the material, though
most authors in the past have neglected it. There is no M(zt- i[(2½' '
doubt that in some cases absorption can be neglected,
but lack of agreement in past theoretical and experi- where
ßmental work may have been due to this neglect. Ab-
sorption was incorporated into the theoretical expres- Z•. Z•.t
sions and effects of varying the absorption factor were M=• cos•'2y•.cotP+
•-• sin•'2y•'cotQ
, (3)
studied. Variations were also made in other parame-
ters of the materials and those effects noted. Because N=Z--•2
cøs22y2+Z2,t
z • sinP
sin2
2y2'
z • sinQ
(4)
these variations gave much better agreement' between
theoretical and experimental values, it was concluded
that the transmission and reflection measurements pro-
Zt =coS,O
Pf,
Ci , (5)
vide a method for determining the basic parameters of
p = - a•.d= - k•.dcosO•., (6)
a material needed in acoustic applications. Materials
• = - p•.d = - •.u cosy•. ,
Styrerie plastic), plexiglass, and polyethylene.
where the subscripts 1, 2, and 3 indicate the medium
I. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS of interest corresponding to Fig. 1. The Z component
of the propagation constant for longitudinal waves is
The theory predicting the transmission of an acoustic while f• represents a like quantity for shear waves.
wave from one medium through an arbitrary number of The x component of the propagation constant is
solid layers to another medium is presented by Brek- Mathematically these quantities may be related to the
hovskikh. a That treatment considers the reflections off wave vectors by the following expressions'

577 J. Acoust.
Soc.Am.,Vol.57, No.3, March1975 Copyright
¸ 1975by theAcoustical
Society
of America 577
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 578 Barnard,Bardin,and Whiteley' Reflectionand transmission
of thin plates 578

FIG. 1. One-layer problem.

FIG. 3. Transmission measurements.

and
•= kt sin0t = ks cos0a=K acosta .'
Notice that the definition of • is also a mathematical
expressionfor Snell's law. In these equations, Oaand
7•. are the angles formed in the solid layer by the in-
tersection of longitudinal and transverse wave vectors
with a plane parallel to the Z axis. The longitudinal
and transverse wave propagation constants are given
by ka and Ka, respectively, and are defined as
The quantities c•. and b•. are the longitudinal and trans-
verse wave velocities in a solid layer of thickness d.
Absorption is considered to be present in the solid and
is accounted for by making the wavenumbers ka and K a
complex. Velocities c•. and ba are therefore complex
and can be expressed as
coco (11)
,
where co is the magnitude of the phase velocity and a a
(10) is the linear attenuation usually expressed in nepers/
ft. Note that the wave.numbers and impedances are com-
plex to includethe absorptionlosses. Also, a a=a a/
8.6858, where as is the attenuationin decibels/ft.
II. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES
The measurements were made in a laboratory tank 8
ft in diameter and 7 ft in depth. A mechanical position-
ing system afforded close control of th.ex, y, and z co-
ordinates. A pulse technique was used to avoid multiple
reflections in the tank. The pulse length was varied
from 150 to 500 g sec. The pulse length chosen was
governed by the criteria that it be (1) long enough to
reach steady-state conditions in the transducers, (2)
short enough to avoid undesirable reflections in the
tank, and (3) long enoughfor the area of interest on the
sample to be insonified for several cycles. The stabili-
ty of the system was such that a complete set of readings
could be repeated within 1 dB.

Reflection measurements were made as shown in Fig.

TABLE I. Sound velocities and attenuation coefficients.

Longitudinal Shear Longitudinal Shear

Frequency velocity velocity absorption absorption
Material (kc) (fps) (fps) (dB/ft) (dB/ft)
Absonic-A 100 6890 2900 20 20
182 6890 2900 48 48
270 6890 2900 60 60
410 6890 2900 65 65
500 6890 2900 70 70

Plexiglass 100 8690 4100 20 20

193 8690 4100 35 35
280 8690 4100 50 50
410 8690 4100 70 70
5OO 8690 4100 90 90

Polyethylene 100 6400 1770 10 10

182 6400 1770 24 24
270 6400 1770 48 48
410 6400 1770 60 60
5OO 6400 1770 65 65
FIG. 2. Reflection measurements.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 579 Barnard,Bardin,andWhiteley:Reflectionandtransmission
of thin plates 579

-5

-10

•__ -15

o / Frequency:
lO0
kHz queß 0kHz
o

-2O a2T= 20 dB/ft •

c oMeasured
Calculated ••Calculated

-25,

-300 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Grazing Angle - degø
FIG. 4. Transmissioncoefficientversus grazing anglefor 0.375-in. Absonic-Aplate.

2. The ratio of received pressure amplitude, corrected the fa•field where D is the diameter of the transducer
for spherical spreading loss, to incident pressure am- active element and X is the wavelength of the pressure
plitude provided a measure of the reflection coefficient. wave.

Since the theory is for a plane wave striking the ma-

terial, care was taken to keep the material in the far- Transmission measurements were made in a similar
field of the projector and the hydrophone. The expres- manner as indicated in Fig. 3. The ratio of the received
sionsD•'/X and 10D were used to determine distance to pressure with the material in the transmission path to

-5

• \ II
/
/ \
-10
I , \

•__ -15

I/
Frequency:
a2:48
182
kHz
dB/ft
Frequency:
a2:65
410
dB
kHz
/ft
-2O

- : Measured c • Measured
m•Calculated • Calculated

-25

-3O
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 5. Transmission coefficient versus grazing angle for 0.250-in. Absonic-A plate.

J. Acoust. Soc• Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 580 Barnard,
Bardin,
andWhiteley:
Reflection
andtransmission
of thinplates 580

-5

kH'
Frequency:
193 • \•' /•''' / ' ß

a2T
=35dB/ft • • -
Measured i / • ß

....Calculated // ''
,

'-

reque.:
410
k,z
a2 =75dB/ft
a2T= 75dB/ft
...... Measured • I
"....."
....
'
-20 Calculated •I

-25
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 gl
Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 6. Transmission coefficient versus grazing anglefor 0.125-in. plexiglassplateß

that with the material removed determines the trans- Ill. COMPARISON BETWEEN EXPERIMENT AND
mission coefficient. Here the material rather than the THEORY
transducers is rotated to give a wide range of incident The previously described experimental techniques
•gles. were used to make measurements of the transmission
and reflection coefficients of several materials. Three
In each case the area insonified by the half-power thicknesses of Absonic-A were used to make experi-
beamwidths was an ellipse whose major axis rarely mental measurements from 100 to 500 kHz in incre-
exceeded 1.5 ft. By choosingmaterials whose dimen- ments of approximately 100 kHz. The thicknessesused
sions were at least twice this length, the portions of the were 0. 083 in., 0. 250 in., and 0.375 in. With these
wave not striking the material were quite small. No thicknesses and frequencies, conditionsexisted suchthat
correction for shifting of the insonifiedbeam was made the layer ranged from 0.1 of a wavelengthto 2.25 wave-
in either instance. lengthsthick in the longitudinalmodeand from 0.25 of a

-1c

Frequency'
182
kHz
•••/'/ Frequency:
270
kHz
ß

a2 =24dB/ft a2 : 48dB/ft
• i•__ ß
a2T= 24 dB/ft • I a2T= 48 dB/ft
•1 ß
Measured v . ß..... Measured
ß

.... Calculated ß ---- Calculated

ß

-2(

)n
-250 'mn •n ',m •,n •c) 6i) 70 8) 91

Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 7. Transmission coefficient versus grazing anglefor 0.250-in. polyethyleneplate.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 581 Barnard,Bardin,and Whiteley:Reflectionand transmission
of thin plates 581

-5

/ Frequency'lO0
-10
ABSONIC-A
a2 : 20dB/ft
a2T: 20dB/ft
c oMeasured
---•Calculated

-20
.....
POLYETHLENE
a2 : lOdB/ft
a2T:10dB/ft
Measured
---•Calculated
PLEXIGLASS

-25
a2 : 20 dB/ft
a2T: 20 dB/ft
Measured
..... Calculated

-30
0 l0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 8. Transmission coefficient versus grazing angle for 0.250-in. plates.

wavelength to 5.5 wavelengths thick in the shear mode.
A plate of polyethylene0. 250 in. thick and two plates
of plexiglass, 0.125 in. and 0. 250 in., were used for
measurements over the same frequency range to pro-
vide data for material comparisons. The sound veloci-
ties and attenuation coefficients for materials are given
in Table I.
Since it is prohibitive to include all of the experi-
mental and theoretical curves collected in this study,
only selected data will be presented in this paper. The
transmission coefficient as a function of grazing angle
for a plate of Absonic-A 0.375 in. thick at frequencies
of 100 and 500 kHz is shown in Fig. 4. Transmission
coefficients as a function of grazing angle for a 0.250-

-5

Frequency:
193
a2 : 35 dB/ft
a2T:35dB/ft
Measured
=-----b2 : 3800
o
..... b•: •00
o

o
..... b• 3600

-20

-25
....

-300 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
-

Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 9. Transmission coefficientsversus grazing anglefor 0.125-in. plexiglass plate.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 582 Barnard, Bardin, and Whiteley: Reflection and transmissionof thin plates 582

..•.:,.-•\ . I :
-10
..I ... /
/:'/
/.•"/ \\ i1'..:a•\'\
ß ß

ß ß

o • : Frequency' 270 kHz

c) ß
ß Pulse Length: 250 usec
ß

•• a2 = 60 dB/ft
-2O ß. a2T: 120dB/ft
''
.. c2 = 5600,6000,7500
ft/sec
..

,,

ß
Measured
ß

-25

:
ß
•.-.
•.•_...}Cal
cul
ated
-3O
0 lO 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Grazing Angle - deg

FIG. 10. Transmission coefficient versus grazing angle for 0.375-in. Absonic-A plate as C2 varies.

in.-thick Absonic-A plate at 182 and 410 kHz, a 0.125- of grazing angle for 0. 250-in.-thick plates of Absonic-A,
in. -thick plate of plexiglass at 193 and 410 kHz, and a plexiglass, and polyethylene at 100 kHz. Data in this
0.250-in.-thick plate of polyethylene at 182 and 270 kHz form may be used by the sonar systems designer to
are shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, respectively. In each select window or dome materials with suitable acoustic
case the calculated values are also shown for the param- and mechanical properties.
eters indicated in each figure and provide reasonable
agreement when absorption is taken into account. Fig- The shear velocity, longitudinal absorption, and shear
ure 8 shows the transmission coefficients as a function absorption were varied in the theoretical equations un-

oo

-5

-lO ø• o" • .' •,.

ß

..

. \
-15
\

ß \
ß ß
-20 Frequency:500 kHz ..'
a2 = Measured
70 dB/ft \\
.... ßCalculated,
a2T=70
dB/ft \
Calculated,
a2T=140
dB/ft \
-25 ------Calculated,a2T:210dB/ft

-300 lO 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Grazing Angle - deg _

FIG. 11. Reflection coefficient versus grazing angle for 0.125-in. Absonic-A plate.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 583 Barnard,
Bardin,andWhiteley:
Reflection
andtransmission
of thinplates 583

lO0

8O

FIG. 12. Absorption versus fre-

quency.

o 40

Absonic-A
Plexiglass
20 Polyethlene

C,
1O0 200 200 300 40D 500
Frequency - kHz

til a best fit between theory and experiment could be ob-
tained. These quantities are defined by the symbols
b2, a•., and a•.t, respectively. All other parameters
used were experimentally determined. This combined
experimental and theoretical technique provides an ap-
proach to determine material properties which cannot
be measured directly when working with thin layers
of material. Shear velocity in the material proved to
be the most critical parameter. This is evident in Fig.
9, where a change of 7.0% in shear velocity caused an
extreme variation in the transmission coefficient.
general agreement was obtained by varying the shear
velocity, refined values of longitudinal and shear ab-
sorption could be determined. Although the experimen-
tal determination of longitudinal velocity in thin plates
is seemingly very accurate, reflection and transmission
data could be used to determine or check
longitudinal velocity. Figure 10 shows the effect of
varying the longitudinal velocity in the theoretical cal-
culation. As the longitudinal velocity increases, it is
noted that the angular position of the null in the trans-
mission coefficient moves quite rapidly to the right,
indicating that this method of determining longitudinal
velocity could be quite accurate.
In the work with Absonic-A there was
that the shear absorption might be two or three times
greater than the longitudinal absorption. However, no
evidence of this phenomenon was found in plexiglass or
polyethylene. The reflection coefficient as a function
of grazing angle for a 0.250-in.-thick plate of Absonic-
A •t a •x-•qu•xlcy o• uuu va-xzis shown in Fig. 11
theoretical curves are shown where the shear velocity
is made larger than the longitudinal absorption. Figure
12 shows the variation of absorption with frequency
for each material.
From these results one concludes that this technique
provides a method of determining the shear velocity
quite accurately. In addition, the longitudinal and shear
absorptions of a material may be determined with rea-
sonable accuracy. Acceptable results were obtained
in all cases if the longitudinal and shear absorptions
were equal.
IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN MATERIALS
For the materials used in this experiment, certain
conclusions can be reached concerning their usefulness
in underwater sound applications. In the design of sonar
domes and transducer windows, a highly transmissive
Once
material is desired. Rho-C rubber is often used in
these applications because of its good transmission
properties. However, if structural rigidity is important,
Rho-C rubber may not be acceptable. Any of the three
materials studied might then provide an acceptable com-
the value of
promise between acoustical and structural require-
ments. Previous data7 allow a comparisonof acoustic
properties between Rho-C rubber and ABS plastic.
Absonic-A and polyethylene (low density) have similar
acoustical characteristics; however, Absonic-A is
more rigid and would probably be preferable in most
applications. Plexiglass is even more rigid but its
transmission properties are not as good.
In the case of streamlined sonar domes, the strong
some evidence
dependence of the transmission coefficient on grazing
angle is of particular importance. The distortion of
the sound field because of dome effects is of primary
importance to a sonar designer. All of the materials
studied exhibited a null in transmission coefficient at
some particular grazing angle. Hence, before any of
these materials could be used in a sonar dome, a de-
tailed investigation of the dome requirements and the
material's acoustic characteristics would be necessary.
Particular attention should be given to phase changes
aS a function of grazing angle where beam scanning or
beam formation is a requirement over a wide field of
view. Any of the three materials could also be used as
reflectors over a limited range of grazing angles.

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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 584 Barnard,Bardin,and Whiteley:Reflectionand transmission
of thin plates 584

V. CONCLUSIONS materials studied in this investigation.

Brekhovskikh's equationspredict the transmission ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

and reflection coefficients of a thin plate fairly accurate-
The authors are indebted to Dr. E. L. Hixson and
ly. These expressions are quite sensitive to parame-
ter changes, enabling one to combine experiment and Dr. C. M. McKinney for their advice and suggestions
theory to determine values for shear velocity, longi- concerning this investigation. This work was sponsored
tudinal wave absorption, and shear wave absorption. by the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command.
Absorption is included in the equations by making the
wavenumber complex. The final expressions for trans-
mission and reflection coefficients remain unchanged
regardless of where the wavenumber is made complex *Present address: TRACOR, Inc., 6500 Tracor Lane, Austin,
in the derivation of Brekhovskikh's equations. Texas 78721.
1L. E. Kinsler andA. R. Frey, Fundamentals
of Acoustics
It should be stressed that the wave equation form (Wiley, New York, 1950).
2H. Kolsky, Stress Wavesin Solids(Clarendon,Oxford, England,
1953).
was the basis for Brekhovskikh's development. This 3LeonidM. Brekhovskikh,Wavesin Layered Media (Academic,
New York, 1960).
equation is based on the assumption that the medium of
concern is one of low loss.
4A. Schoch,"Schallrefiexion, Schallbrechung,andSchallbeu-
gung," Ergeb. Exakt. Naturw. 23, 127 (1950).
To be completely accurate, one would need to solve 5A. Schoch,"Der Schallderchang
dutch Platten," Acustica2,
1 (1952).
the wave equation
6B. F. GoodrichAerospaceandDefenseProducts,"Products--
Materials for Underwater Sound Applications," B. F. Good-
ß rich Co. (1961).
?L. C. Adair andR. L. Cook, "AcousticProperties of Rho-C
However, it is felt that the results obtained using the Rubber and ABS in the Frequency Range 100 kHz-2 MHz," J.
low-loss approximation are valid for the thin plates of Acoust. Soc. Am. 54, 1763-1765 (1973).

J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 57, No. 3, March 1975

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