ACUSTlCA .

acta acustica
Vol.84 (1998)701-711 S. Hirzel Verlag EAA 701

Acoustic Radiation from a Pair of Spheres

C. L. Morfey, J. Garcia-Bonito
ISVR,Universityof Southampton,Southampton,Hants, United Kingdom,SOl7 IBJ

A. T. Peplow
Departmentof MathematicalSciences,Universityof the Westof England,FrenchayCampus,ColdharbourLane, Bristol BS16 IQY,U.K.

Summary
In this paper we present a semi-analyticalmodel which enables the acoustic pressure field created by two spheres
radiatingclose together to be predicted at any point outside the spheres. By representingthe pressure field from each
sphereas a finitesum of sphericalharmonicsand satisfyingthe boundaryconditionsat a finitenumberof points on the
surfaceof each sphere,the problemreducesto the solutionof a systemof simultaneouslinearequatIOnswhoseunkno,:,n
variablesare the relativeamplitudesof each sphericalharmonic.The results from this model have been comparedw.lth
those obtainedusing a boundaryelement methodapproach.It is shownthat for valuesof ka < 10 both methods gIve
resultswith a relativeerror less than 1% for separatedspheres.The case for contactingspheresis discussedand results
presented.Numericalexamplesdemonstratethe accuracyand convergencerates of the twomethods.A detailedanalysis
of the radiationproblemwhen the spheresare in contact is givenin an Appendix.
PACS no. 43.20.Bl, 43.20.Fn

1. Introduction special study of the contact-region singularity, included here

This paper is concerned with the general linear problem of
sound radiation from a pair of neighbouring spheres, with
arbitrary prescribed surface motion. Two different numeri-
cal methods have been implemented to find the sound field
around two equal spheres, of arbitrary separation, which pul-
sate at a single frequency with the same uniform velocity.
Numerical problems arise when the spheres are in contact,
and the nature of the singularity in this case is discussed in
Appendix 1.
1.1. Motivation
The radiation of sound from colliding elastic spheres has
been studied experimentally in air and water as a model
for impact noise [1, 2]. The rather good agreement found
by these authors between measured and predicted pressure
waveforms was surprising given the highly-simplified nature
of their theoretical model, in which the sound field of each
sphere was calculated assuming the other sphere to be absent.
This situation led us to seek a more accurate method of
calculating the sound field radiated by one sphere in the pres-
ence of another. The method we developed, based on spher-
ical harmonics proved to have applications in a completely
different area [3]. It also demonstrated some advantages, for
the specific geometry of two spheres, over a general pur-
pose boundary element method. Results for the two methods
are compared in this paper, in order to check that they both
converge and yield the same result.
The inability of either method to deal satisfactorily with
the radiation from two spheres in contact has motivated a
Received22 January 1997,
accepted31 August 1997.
as Appendix 1.
1.2. Methods based on spherical harmonics
Several authors have discussed the radiation or scattering of
waves by a pair of spheres, both for electromagnetic (EM)
and acoustic waves. Germogenova [4] obtained asymptotic
results for EM scattering in the long-wavelength limit (ka
1). For arbitrary ka (k = wavenumber, a = sphere radius),
translation theorems for spherical waves can be exploited
to produce a numerical solution procedure. This approach
has been successfully applied to plane-wave EM scattering
by Bruning and Lo [5, 6], and extended to multiple spheres
by Mackowski [7]. The acoustic problem was formulated for
arbitrary surface motion by New and Eisler [8] using the same
approach; they presented results for two equal spheres, with
one sphere rigid and the other pulsating at non-dimensional
frequency ka = 1.
The acoustic scattering problem for 2 rigid spheres has
been studied in detail by Gaunaurd et at. [9]; this is the
most complete analysis of the acoustic 2-sphere problem to
date, although no mention is made of predicting the field
in the contact zone when the spheres are touching. Detailed
references to earlier literature may be found in this paper and
in the others cited above.
A more direct numerical approach was proposed by
Marnevskaya [10]. The scattered field is represented, as be-
fore, by spherical harmonic components radiating from each
sphere. The sequence of harmonics is truncated at some upper
limit, and the harmonic coefficients are obtained by requir-
ing the boundary conditions to be satisfied at the appropriate
number of points on each sphere. Marnevskaya developed
the method for EM scattering; independently, Watson [11]
showed how it could be used to solve the acoustic problem
of a pair of oscillating spheres.

702 Morfey et al.: Radiation by two spheres
It is interesting to compare the direct method used by
Marnevskaya and by Watson, in which the field exterior to
both spheres is represented by two sets of outgoing spherical-
harmonic waves, with the "source simulation technique". The
latter (also known as the method of superposition) represents
the field exterior to any closed boundary by means of out-
going waves from a free-field source distribution, which is
located within the enclosed region [12, 13]. An advantage
of the direct method, for the present two spheres problem, is
that the unknown variables to be solved for are the outgoing-
wave harmonic coefficients, and not the source harmonic
coefficients: the latter being singular at eigenvalues of the
interior volume.
1.3. Integral equation formulations
A common way to treat scattering problems involving single
bodies is by means of integral equation formulations. Such
formulations are available for acoustic radiation problems
[14, 15, 16] and easily extend to multiple body problems.
To the best of the authors' knowledge the spherical wave
solution employed here has never been compared directly
with a boundary element solution for the acoustic radiation
problem.
1.4. Statement of the problem
We seek an approximation to the radiating solution of the
Helmholtz equation in a region V, the exterior of two spheres
with boundary 8V on which the solution has prescribed
normal-derivative, or Neumann, boundary data. We assume
that the boundary data is axisymmetric. Thus we wish to
approximate, in V, a function p such that
(\72 + k2) p(r) = 0 in V, (1)
8p(r)
a:;;: = g(r) on 8V, (2)
where n denotes the local coordinate normal to 8V directed
into the region V. The Sommerfeld radiation condition ap-
plies,
lim r [x.\7p(rx) + jkp(rx)] = 0, (3)
r-+oo
where r is the modulus of the position vector r with origin
x
midway between the spheres, and = \7 r.
In time-harmonic acoustics applications the interior do-
main is either a radiating body or a rigid scatterer and p is the
excess pressure in a fluid occupying V. Denoting the angular
frequency and phase speed in the fluid by wand c, respec-
tively, the acoustic wave number is defined by k : = w / c. The
time factor ejwt will be used throughout the analysis which
follows.
Figure 1 depicts the geometric arrangement studied here
which shows the two spheres of radius a and a' respectively,
situated in a free field with centres at a distance D apart
and with arbitrary axisymmetric normal velocities on their
surfaces.
ACUSTICA acta acustica
Vol. 84 (1998)
.....
X,
Sphere S
D .1
Figure ]. Geometry of model.
2. Spherical harmonics method
In this section we develop an analytical and computational
model which enables the acoustic field, created by two radi-
ating spheres, to be predicted at any point outside the spheres.
The analysis is in the frequency domain and it takes into ac-
count the effect of scattering due to the presence of the two
spheres. The basis for this theoretical model is that the total
acoustic pressure at any point outside the two spherical bod-
ies is the sum of the acoustic pressures radiated from each
individual sphere, subject to the prescribed normal velocities
on their respective boundaries.
The sound field at any point outside the two spheres can be
expressed as the superposition of the outgoing waves from
each sphere at that point in terms of an infinite sum of spheri-
cal harmonics [17]. Therefore the total acoustic pressure can
be expressed as
00
p(r,8) L AmPm(cos8)h~)(kr)
m=O
00
+ L A~Pn(cos 8')h~2) (kr'), (4)
n=O
where Pm (cos 8), Pn (cos 8') are the Legendre polynomials
of order m and n respectively; and h~) (kr), h~2)(kr') are
the spherical Hankel functions of the second kind of order
m and n respectively. Am and A~ are unknown complex
pressure coefficients which have to be determined in order
to calculate the value of p(r, 8). We observe that since the
acoustic radiation problem is axisymmetric, there is no az-
imuthal angle dependence.
The method of finding the pressure coefficients Am and
A~ requires an expression for the normal acoustic velocity at
any segment 8 and 8' on the boundary surface of each sphere.
By matching these velocities with the normal surface velocity
defined by the boundary condition, the pressure coefficients
Am and A~ can be determined by solving the following
system of linear equations [11]:
00
L AmDm(rp,8p)
m=O
ACUSTICA acta acustica
Vol. 84 (1998) Motley et al.: Radiation by two spheres 703

(M + N + 2) X 1 column vector of unknown coefficients

Am and A"l'
Equation (7) can be solved exactly for the unknown co-
efficient vector c provided N + M + 2 = P + Q. The
resulting solution for surface velocity may however be un-
................ ~
X,
realistic between the sample points on each sphere. Watson
[II] concluded that in order to minimise the error caused by
the truncation of the infinite series (5), the number of points
.' on the surface of the sphere should be greater than the num-
Sphere S D .1 Sphere S ber of coefficients, (i.e. P + Q > N + M + 2). In this
way, the set of linear equations (7) form an overdetermined
system which can be solved by defining a vector of errors

d = w - Zc, (8)

and minimising the function

P+Q
J = d
H
. d = l: Id i 1
2
, (9)
Figure 2. Illustration of notation for spherical harmonics method. i=l

where di is the ith element of the vector d and the superscript

00 H denotes the Hermitian transpose. It can be shown, [II ], that

+ l:A~En(r~, B~) = w(rp, Bp), the cost function J defined by (9) is a quadratic function of
n=O the vector c having a minimum at
00

l:AmFm(rq, Bq) (10)

m=O
00
+ l:A~Gn(r~, B~) = w(r~, B~),
n=O
where Dm(rp, Bp), En(r~, B~), Fm(rq, Bq) and Gn(r~, B~)
are functions of Legendre polynomials and spherical hankel
functions of the second kind evaluated on the two spherical
surfaces, at points (rp, Bp), (r~, B~) on sphere S, and at
points (rq, Bq), (r~, B~) on sphere S' (see Figure 2). Here
the unprimed coordinates have their origin at the centre of
S, and the primed coordinates are centred on S'. The surface
normal velocities on Sand S' are denoted by w(rp, Bp) and
w (r~, B~) respectively.
A truncated version of equation (5) is set up by requiring
that the normal velocity boundary condition be satsified at
P discrete points on sphere S, and at Q discrete points on
S', with a limited number of spherical harmonic coefficients
on each sphere. The index values in the truncated version of
equation (5) run as follows:
m=OtoM; n = OtoN;
p = 1to P; q=1toQ.
There are 2 + M + N unknown coefficients to be determined
from P + Q boundary conditions. Using vector notation, the
truncated set of linear equations is written as
ZC=w,
where Z is the (P+Q) x (M +N +2) matrix formed by the
terms Dm(rp,Bp), En(r~,B~), Fm(rq,Bq), Gn(r~,B~). w
is the (P+Q) x 1 column vector of surface velocities on both
spheres, with elements w(rp, Bp) and w(r~, B~), and c is the
Using the pressure coefficients Am and A~ given by Co in the
(5) series expansion (4) the total acoustic field can be calculated
at any field point (r, B).
In a series of preliminary calculations it was found that, for
a given frequency and geometry, the values of the coefficients
given by (10) are sensitive to the values of M and N and
much less affected by the values of P and Q. In particular,
it was observed that if M and N are too large, the condition
number of the matrix Z in equation (7) increases so that
ill-conditioning occurs. This can be understood physically
as follows. The elements of Z (see Appendix 2) are transfer
functions between a point on the radiating spherical surface
(r = a) and another point further away (r > a). When the
harmonic order n becomes sufficiently large, the outgoing-
wave spherical Hankel function varies asymptotically as
so that
h~2)(kr) (a)(n+l) (n ka).
(6) (2) '" -
hn (ka) r
Thus the larger the order n, the smaller the magnitude of
the elements of Z becomes, and eventually ill-conditioning
occurs. On the other hand, if M or N are smaller than the
(7) minimum number of spherical harmonics needed to describe
the field, the sensitivity to M and N is an indicator of inac-
curate results.
The acoustic pressure at (Xl, X2) = (0,2a) for a' = a
and D = 2a was calculated for all combinations of M =
N = 0(1)100 and ka = 0(5)50 for pulsating spheres with
 ACUSTICA . acta acustica
704 Morfeyet al.: Radiationby two spheres Vol. 84 (1998)

unit normal acoustic velocity. For each case equation (10)

was solved using the MATLAB 3.5 built-in function pinv 45

that solves an overdetermined system in the least squares ~ 40

u
sense. The function pinv(Z) produces the Moore-Penrose S
o 35
pseudo-inverse based on the singular value decomposition
of the matrix Z [18]. For each value of ka, the number of
discretisation points taken was P = Q = 2N + 2 which
,."
..<::

u
30

5 25
..<::
satisfied the conditions for an overdetermined system. ~
The acoustic pressure at (XI,X2) = (0,2a) was moni- '-
o 20
...
tored as N increased, for each value of ka, until the matrix 15 15
E;::l
Z became rank deficient. This condition defined the cut-off
values Ne (Me), above which the system became unstable. 610
:<::
5
In order to define a safety margin for the permissible val-
ues of N (or M), the limits NL (or ML) were defined as o
NL = Nc - 3 (ML = Me - 3). This avoided the influence o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
ka
of the rank-deficiency in Z. Figure 3 depicts the fitted curve
for the values of N Land M L defined as a function of ka.
Figure 3. Maximum number of spherical harmonics which can be
Observe that as ka increases the overdetermined system can used without encounteringrank deficiencyof matrix Z in equation
cope with a higher number of spherical harmonics associated (9).
with each sphere.

3. Boundary element method

An integral equation formulation, an alternative to the origi-

nal boundary value problem (Helmholtz equation), is possi-
ble and widely known [14]. The radiated field can be written
in integral form via Green's theorem [14] for aV c R3:

c(x)p(x) U(x) +J
r a<I>(k)(x y)
an(y) p(y) ds(y), (11)
av
x E R3, Figure 4. Geometry for the axisymmetricbody showingCartesian
and polar coordinates;(]"is the arclengthalongthe generator r.
where

denote the contact point where appropriate. The double-layer

U(x) (12)
potential is defined for x E R3

r a<I>(k)(x,y)
K(x):= Jav an(y) (y)ds(y). (16)
is a known quantity; also
Equation (12) provides an alternative formulation for the
I, x E V, physical problem. It can be seen that equation (12) expresses
c(x):= 1/2, x E aV, (13) the pressure at any arbitrary point x, within V, the medium
{
0, x E R3\(V U aV), of propagation, in terms of an integral involving just values
of the pressure on the boundary aV.
while
Initially equation (15) is solved to calculate the pressure
-jklx-yl on the bovndary. Subsequently the pressure can be calculated
<I>(k)(x y) '= _e _ (14)
, . 47rIX - yJ at an arbitrary point in V by integration via equation (12).

is a fundamental solution of the Helmholtz equation. Note
that if the spheres are in contact, (i.e. D = a + a'), then
E(X) = 0 at x = x*, the point of contact. On the boundary,
aV, equation (12) may be abbreviated as
EI (x)p(x) = f(x) + K p(x), x E aV.
where f := 2Ulav and EI (x*) = 0 if spheres are in contact
at x = x*, otherwise EI (x) = 1. The superscript * will
3.1. The axisymmetric case
The integral equation (12) is a valid formulation for closed
bounded domains in R3. For two spheres we show how ax-
isymmetry reduces the dimension of the problem [15]. We
(15) introduce a parameterisation of the boundary such that the
point x E aV corresponds to (a, 0), with a the arclength
along rand 0 the azimuthal angle. Then, in Cartesian coor-
dinates we have x = (Xl (a), p( a) cos 0, p( a) sin 0) where
ACUSTICA . acla acuslica
Vol. 84 (1998) Morfeyet al.: Radiationby two spheres 705

the radial and axial coordinates p and Xl, as well as the

unit-normal, are parameterized by arc-length, as illustrated 0,8

in Figure 4. Since the prescribed Neumann data is axisym-

0,7
metric i.e.g(x) = g(a), as a consequence, the acoustic field
is also independent of the azimuthal angle and p( x) = p( a). 2:
~ 0,6
In this case, the action of the integral operator on p is now
~
0. 0,5
computed as ~c:

k p(a) 1"1 1 21r

p(t) k(a, t; B) dBp(t) dt
.02
i!J
0)

6
'i3
0:o
0,4

0,3

= l"1p(t)k(a,t)dt, (17) Z 0,2

0,1
where 'Y is the arc-length of the generator r arid where - Spherical harmonic solution

k( a, t; B) is the corresponding fundamental solution for the

axisymmetric problem with the relation
0,4 1,1 1,8 2,6 3,3 4,0 4,8 5,5 6,2 7,0 7,7 8,4 9,1

ka
(21r
k(a,t) :=p(t) io k(a,t;B)dB. Figure 5. Comparison between BEM and semi-analytical method
for identical separated spheres (D = 3a, Figure 1). The curves
correspondto the pressure at the fieldpoint (0, 2a).
Hence, for an axisymmetric body, the surface integral op-
erator is effectively replaced by a one-dimensional integral
operator over the generator r. The boundary integral equa-
COLLOCATION, AXISYMMETRY, HALF- SPACE and
tion (12) is replaced by
OVERDETERMINE options. Several field points were in-
(18) cluded in the interior of the domain for the OVERDETER-
MINE option.
The coefficient f( a) is defined similarly to E with E( a*) = O.
The tildes-will be dropped henceforth.
4.1. Separated spheres

3.2. Approximate solution of boundary integral equation
The basic principles underlying the boundary element
method are outlined in Appendix 3. It is shown that using
piecewise linear elements the expected error for sufficiently
large number of elements behaves as
(19)
for some constant M1 > O.
An essential part of the boundary element method theory
involves proving equivalence between the original boundary
value problem and the integral equation formulation. This,
and unique existence of solutions to the radiation problem
can be proved [14]. However, the integral equation restricted
to BV, can fail to have a unique solution at a discrete set of
positive wavenumbers. Specifically, these wavenumbers cor-
respond to the solutions of a homogeneous Dirichlet problem
in the interior of both spheres. Away from these wavenum-
bers, we may use the error estimate (19) as a guarantee for
convergence to the exact solution.
4. Results
Comparative results are presented for the spherical harmon-
ics method and the boundary element method, for the ax-
isymmetric problem of sound radiation by two identical pul-
sating spheres (section 1.4). The boundary element results
were calculated using [19] on a 486 66 MHz DX2 PC using
Figure 5 shows the amplitude of the normalised acoustic
pressure Ipl/(pcu), where u is the normal surface velocity
on either sphere. Results are given for the field point (0, 2a)
assuming a = a' and D = 3a (separated sphere condition).
Similar calculations at other field points show broadly similar
comparative results. For each value of ka, M and N were
taken from Figure 3 and P = Q = M + N + 1. We observe
that for this particular field point and geometry, the acoustic
pressure presents destructive interference at ka :::::: 2 and
ka ::::::
6. We observe that in the range of ka studied, both
methods give similar results.
Figure 6 shows the tolerance for the spherical harmonic
and the boundary element methods. The relative error of the
spherical harmonic method against the boundary element
method is also shown. The tolerance of the spherical har-
monic solution has been calculated as the absolute difference
between the acoustic pressures using ML (Nd and ML - 1
(NL - 1) spherical harmonics normalized with respect to
the ML (NL) solution. For the boundary element method
approach, the tolerance has been calculated as the difference
between the pressure obtained when taking 512 elements per
semi-circle and that obtained using 256 elements on each
semi-circle, normalized with respect to the 512 element so-
lution. The results show that for ka > 2 the tolerance of the
harmonic method is about four orders of magnitude less than
that for the boundary element method. For all ka the relative
difference between the two methods is less than 1 %. Figure 7
shows the relative error for the spherical harmonics method
normalized to the solution given by the maximum number
 ACUSTI CA acta acustica
706 Morfey et al.: Radiation by two spheres Vol. 84 (1998)

l,OE-l l,OE+l

1,OE+O

...... ... - -- --- ... - "'" " g 1,DE-1 ". '.

";"> '....
.. -:~ .
.~ 1,OE-2
l,OE-5
- ~ Tolerance for spherical harmonic
solution
.. - .. Tolerance for BEM solution "
p::

1.0E-3
- .. ka= 0.37
\ -- Relative error
l,OE-7
\ .... ka = 2.93

\ ,\ .... 1,QE-4
,. ',/\ \ /\ --ka = 8.41
\j ' / ./ ,/ ,/ 'J \
'/
l,OE-9 1,OE-5
2 8 16 32 64 128
0,4 1,1 1,8 2,6 3,3 4,0 4,8 5,5 6,2 7,0 7,7 8,4 9,1
ka Number of elements on each sphere

Figure 6. Tolerances and relative error between the boundary element Figure 8. Relative error showing quadratic convergence for boundary
and spherical harmonic methods for separated spheres. The curves element method at (0, 2a) for separated spheres.
have been calculated from the data shown in Figure 5. The boundary
element method with 512 elements is arbitrarily used as the reference
solution.

;J

1,OE+OO ~
~ 0,8
l,OE-ol ~
0.

l,OE-02
'"
C
0 0,6
... 1,OE-03
0
t::
'""
8
'B
" <:0
.::"
1,OE-04 0,4
Z

"'"
p::
l,OE-05

l,OE-o6
0,2 -- Spherical harmonic solution

BEM solution
l,OE-07
o
1,OE-08 0,4 1,1 1,8 2,6 3,3 4,0 4,8 5,5 6,2 7,0 7,7 8,4 9,1
ka
1,OE-09
1 7 10 13 16 19

Number of spherical harmonics Figure 9. Pressure at (0, 2a) for contacting spheres for boundary
element and spherical harmonic methods.

Figure 7. Relative error for spherical harmonics method at (0, 2a)

for separated spheres of the same diameter. The boundary element
method with 512 elements is arbitrarily used as the reference solu- both approximate methods. Figure 10 shows the correspond-
tion.
ing tolerance and relative error for this new arrangement.
These results show that as ka increases, the tolerances of
both methods are similar and that the spherical harmonic ap-
of spherical harmonics, see Figure 3. Clearly, the truncation
proach increases its tolerance against the separated case by
error decays at a fast enough rate to ensure convergence.
4 or 5 orders of magnitude. The boundary element method
Clearly, from Figure 8, the boundary element method fol-
produces tolerances of similar magnitude. For this config-
lows the h2 convergence rate estimated in (19). For this
uration, the relative difference between the two methods is
problem, the integral operator is compact. Hence we can
of order 10%, as is clearly illustrated in Figure 9. One or
conclude that both the spherical harmonic and boundary ele-
other of the methods is evidently far less accurate than the
ment methods approximate the exact solution of the original
tolerance values (around 10-3) indicate, and the results in
radiating problem (I )-(3).
Figure 9 are little more than qualitative.
We expect a singularity at the point of contact a = a*, (see
Appendix I). Thus, the approximation of the unknown pres-
4.2. Contacting spheres
sure p( a) should be based on such behaviour. Nevertheless,
Figure 9 shows the pressure at the field point (0, 2a) in for this case quadratic splines were used in the collocation
the case of contacting spheres (D = 2a), calculated with method. The n nodes on the interval [a*, 1'] were spaced
 ACUSTlCA acta acustica
Vol. 84 (1998) Morfeyet al.: Radiationby two spheres 707

1,OE+0
(a) Axial section in plane
containing nine

z
o

a
s
\....- /'\ ,
'J "

,''', ,.
Spherical harmonic solution
~ - - BEM solution

-. Relative error

1,OE6
0,4 1,1 1,8 2,6 3,3 4,0 4,8 5,5 6,2 7,0 7,7 8,4 9,1
(b) View in -z direction
ka

Figure 10. Tolerancesand relativeerror between the boundary ele-

ment and sphericalharmonic methods for contacting spheres. The
curveshavebeen calculatedfrom the data shownin Figure 8 for the
fieldpoint (0, 2a).

using a quadratic mesh grading procedure Figure II. Definitionsketchfor the contact region of two spheres.

(Jj = (J* + (r - (J*) (~r, j = 0,1, ... , n. (20)

Appendix
Similarly, the nodes spaced on the interval [0, (J*] were also
graded quadratically. For this problem, it is well known that AI. Singularities in the acoustic field, for the case of
the integral operator is non-compact [20] and hence the the- two spheres in contact
ory of Appendix 3 is not valid.
A I. I. Solutions for the pressure in the gap between two
spheres
5. Conclusions
Two rigid spheres of different radii are placed in contact.
The geometry is shown in Figure I I (a). A two-dimensional
I. The acoustic pressure produced by two harmonically pul-
version of the Webster-Lagrange hom equation appropriate
sating spheres in close proximity, radiating into a free field,
for this situation is
has been computed by using (I) the method of spherical
harmonics proposed by Marnevskaya, and (2) an axisym-
metric boundary element formulation. (AI)
2. At long wavelengths (ka < 10) the two methods predict
the same pressure amplitude within 1%, from the medium where p(x, t) is the acoustic pressure, h(x) is the gap, and
near field (R 2: 2a, where R is the distance from the x = (Xl, X2) defines the position in the transverse plane
contact point) out to the far field. (z = 0). Equation (AI) disregards any z dependence of the
3. Above ka = 20 our implementation of method (I), using field, and is therefore valid only for kh 1.
MATLAB on a 486 PC, encountered numerical difficulties It is convenient to use polar coordinates (y, B) centred at
due to limited precision. The boundary element method the contact point K. The gap is approximated in the neigh-
(2) was likewise unable to demonstrate satisfactory con- bourhood of K by
vergence with increasing mesh size in this region.
4. Bringing the spheres into contact makes it impossible to
determine the near field in the contact region by either h(y) ~ '21(1 ~ + a'1) y2, (A2)
method. However, the methods still yield approximately
the same result (within about 10%, rather than 1%) at (a,a' = sphere radii). Solutions to equations (A I), (A2) are
larger distances. available in the form p = F(y )ej(wt-mO), with m =
5. The numerical problems mentioned in conclusion (4) are 0, 1, 2, etc., provided the radial factor satisfies the equa-
due to a logarithmic singularity in the pressure field at tion
the contact point, which is analysed in the Appendix. The
2
corresponding pressure gradient varies as R-l. F" + ~F' +
Y
(k2 _ m
y2
) F = O. (A3)
 ACUSTICA acla acustica
708 Morfey et a1.: Radiation by two spheres Vol. 84 (1998)

The general solution of the modified Bessel equation (A3) This source distribution, extending from y = 0 to Y =
is expressed in terms of Bessel and Neumann functions of Ymax, excites a pressure field in the region y < Ymax which
order v: is given by integrating equation (A6):

yF(y) = AJv(ky) + BYv(ky), (A4) 1

--Po (x)
v= V1+m 2 pcua

We now proceed to solve the inhomogeneous version of (A 1).

A 1.2. Excitation by a concentric ring source

Suppose a ring-shaped volull.le velocity source is positioned
at y = Ys, with volume velocity per unit circumference given
by Q = Qmej(wt-mO). The pressure field will be ofthe form Here equation (A2) has been used to approximate hs. For
this reason, and because of the approximation that P is in-
P = Pm(y)ej(wt-mO), (A5) dependent of z, equation (A8) does not accurately represent
contributions to P from larger radii [Ys ~ min(a, a') = ii,
with
say].
However this inaccuracy does not affect the asymptotic
Pm ex: Jv(ky) in y < Ys
evaluation of P near the contact point, provided kii 1. For
and when x Xmax 1, equation (A8) yields

Pm ex: Cv(ky) in y > Ys, 1

--po(x) ~ -jk
(1- + -1) -1 1
In-x (A9)
PCUa a a' 2
(v = VI + m2).HereCv = 1]Jv-jYv is a general cylinder
function; if 1] = 1, it represents an outgoing wave. Matching and the dependence on x max disappears to leading order. The
equations (A6) to the source volume velocity gives, with the pressure has a logarithmic singularity at the contact point.
aid of the Wronskian W(Jv, Yv) = 2/7rx, The radial velocity field in the gap follows as

Uo = ~ 8p ~
wp 8y
(! + ~)
a a'
-1 Ua.
y
(A10)

Equation (A 10) agrees exactly with the incompressible

Here x = ky is the dimensionless radial coordinate. Note
that the pressure is continuous at the source radius.
Equations (A6) are used in the next two sections to find
the pressure field in the gap due to two specific source dis-
tributions: the first corresponds to rigid-body oscillation of
the contacting spheres, and the second to scattering of an
incident plane wave by two fixed spheres. In both cases, ex-
plicit results are obtained in the long-wavelength limit (ka,
ka' 1). In the latter case, it is necessary to include all
orders m (despite going to the limit), because JvCv remains
of order 1 for all m > 1.
A1.3. Sound field due to axial oscillation of rigid spheres
Oscillation of the spheres along their line of centres, with an
approach velocity uaejwt, produces a sound field in the gap
which is the same as that driven by an axisymmetric volume
velocity source distribution,
q(y,(),t) = qoejwt, qo = Ua = canst., (A7)
model, in which the volume outflow through the gap,
uo(y)27ryh(y), is equated to Ua7ry2. The radial velocity
has a l/y singularity.
AlA. Scattering of an incident plane wave: equivalent
source distribution
The geometry of the contact region and the incident wave are
shown in Figure 11 (a). Cartesian coordinate axes (Xl, X2, z)
are used to describe the unit wavenormal of the incident wave
(nine) and the outward normals (n, n') at P, P':
nine = (sina,O,cosa),
n = .(sin (3 COS (), sin (3 sin (), - cos (3), (All)
n' = (sin (3' cos (), sin (3' sin (), cos (3') .
Scattering from the annular strip [y, y + dy] on the surface
S, S' acts like a compact ring source, provided kh 1. The
source volume velocity per unit circumference is given by
dQ/dy = q = (qp + qp,), where

with rigid boundaries. Each annular element [V, y + dy] cor- qp - (Uinen . nine sec (3) p,
responds to a ring source, as in Section 7.2, with m = 0 and - (Uinen . nine sec (3') p' . (A12)
dQ = qdy.
ACUSTICA acta acustica
Vol. 84 (1998) Morfey et al.: Radiation by two spheres 709

Equation (AI2) is obtained by giving the boundaries 5, 5' (valid for v 2: 1). Note that since m = 1 in this case,
a normal velocity equal and opposite to that produced by v = V2. The result is
the incident wave. Note that by giving each spherical sur-
face a normal velocity equal and opposite to that caused by (A18)
the incident wave, we specify a scattered acoustic field in
the gap whose velocity on the boundaries cancels that due
and is evidently influenced by contributions from y ~ Ymax.
to the incident wave. The multiple scattering process be-
If we choose Ymax = min(a, a') = a, and focus on the
tween the two spheres is automatically taken into account.
nature of the field in the contact region, then equation (A 18)
The velocity perturbation Uincejwt (in the nine direction) is
gives us an order of magnitude estimate I
approximately the same at P and P', since kh is small. Its
radial and circumferential variation is given by
PI ~ -jwpausina ( 1 )_(_Ya.. )V-I (A19)
Uinc = ue-j k rninc = ue-j w cos e, (A13)
v2-v

(w = ky sin a). Here u is the incident-wave fluid velocity

(y /0, 1, ka 1). Since the exponent v-I =
0.414 ..... ,
the pressure field is not singular; but the pressure gradient
at the contact point r = 0, and r = (y cos 8, y sin 8) defines
(and hence the fluid velocity) is singular at the contact point.
the projection of (P, P') onto the tangent plane z = 0; see
Figures ll(a) and (b).
Combining the three equations above with the approxi-
mations tan (3 ~ y / a, tan (3' ~ y / a' yields the equivalent A2. Functions generated for spherical harmonics
source distribution for plane-wave scattering by two rigid method
contacting spheres:
The following functions Dm(rp, ep), En(r~, 8~),
q(y,8) ~ (1 1)
-y;;u ~ + a' wcos8e-Jwcos, e . (A14)
Fm (r q , 8q) and G n (r~ ' 8~) are necessary for the spherical
harmonic solution (5):

(kh 1). Symmetry of equation (AI4) aboutthe axis 8 = 0 _ Pm\cos8p) ~(h~)(kr )), (A20)
allows q to be represented as a cosine series: JWP drp p

q(y, e) =
(Xl

L qm(Y) cosme;
__ 1_ [_ VI - 2
cos 8~
jwp r~
m=O
I-m . h<;)(kr~)P~(cos(8~) cos(3p (A21)
qm _J_-AwJ:n(w),
Em

A = i!:k (! +~).
a a'
(A15)
+ Pn(cos(8~) d~~ (h~2)(kr~)) sin(3p],

where (3p = 8p - 8~ - 7r /2, P~ denotes the derivative of the

Here Em = 1 for m = 0, and 1/2 otherwise. The solu-
Legendre polynomial of order n, p is the fluid density of air
tion (A6) for the field of a ring source shows that, in the
and w = 27r f (angular frequency)
compact limit, (i.e. w -+ 0), the response function Pm/ Qm
is of the same order for all m 2: 1. However, equation (AI5)
shows that the scattering source distribution is dominated by
_~ [_ VI - 2
cos 8q
JWP rq
the m = 1 component, with
. h~) (kr q)P;" (cos( 8q) cos (3~ (A22)
ql ~ -Aw = -u _(1 + -1) .
-
a a'
ysma. (A16)
+ Pm (cos(8q) d~q (h~)(krq)) sin(3~],

A 1.5. Asymptotic solution for scattered field in contact and where (3~ = 8q + 8~ - 7r /2, P;" denotes the derivative
region of the Legendre polynomial of order m;
We replace Q m in equation (A6) by ql dy, and integrate from
p (cose') d
y = 0 to Ymax, using equation (AI6) for ql together with Gn(r' ,8') = - n. q _(h(2)(kr')). (A23)
the asymptotic expressions q q JWP dr~ n q

~(x/2t,
v.
1 Contributions to Pi from y ~ ii are not accurately represented
_ (v - I)! (x/2)-V (A17) in equations (AI8-AI9), because the small-flare approximations
7r (3 1, (3' 1 break down in this region. Compare the comment
on equation (A8).
 ACUSTICA . acta acustica
710 Morley et al.: Radiationby two spheres Vol. 84 (1998)

A3. Approximate solution of boundary integral ~ - tj S h12. Then, by Taylor's formula, we derive
equation
(Png)(~) - g(~)
We investigate the convergence of a simple finite element
= g(tj) + ~{g(tHd - g(tj) }(~ - tj) - g(~)
collocation method applied to the one-dimensional axisym-
metric integral equation (18) in the limit h -t 0, where h = g(tj) - g(~) - (tj - ~)g'(~)
is the length of the largest element of a uniform mesh. In
particular, we study piecewise linear elements and interpo-
= g(~) + (tj - ~)g'(~) + ~(tj - ~)2g"(TJ)
lation to approximate the integral over an interval [0, ,]. In - g(~) - (tj - ~)g'(~)
this study it is necessary to introduce the notions of linear 1
function spaces. The linear space X = 0[0,,] of complex- "2(tj - ~)2g"(TJ),
valued functions functions is the normed space furnished
with the maximum norm 111100 := maxa-E[O,')']1(u)l. As- with some TJ E (tj,~). Hence, maxtj~t~tJ+l IPng(O -
sociated with the linear space, X, is the finite dimensional g(OI S ~h211g"1100and the result follows. 0
space Xn eX of dimension n with basis h, ...,in fur-
nished with the norm IInlloo := maXj=l, ...,n laj I where A3.2. Collocation
n = 'L.7=1 ajh The space Xn is important in analysing
The collocation method for solving a linear equation of the
interpolation operators.
form

- K= i, (A26)
A3.1. Interpolation
roughly speaking, consists in seeking an approximate solu-
For the interpolation we use spline functions. Specifically we tion from a finite dimensional subspace Xn C X by requir-
use linear splines, i. e., continuous piecewise linear functions. ing that equation (A26) is satisfied at only a finite number
Lettj = j h, j = 0, ... , n, denote an equidistant subdivision of so called collocation points. Then the collocation method
with stepsize h = ,In. The space Xn here is the space of approximates the solution of (A26) by a function n E Xn
continuous functions on [0,,] whose restrictions on each of satisfying
the sub-intervals [tj-1, tjl. j = 1, ... , n, are linear. Here,
the basis is given by the hat functions n(Uj) - Pn(K n)(Uj) = i(uj), (A27)
j = 1, ... ,n.
~(t - tj-d, t E [tj~l' tjl,

!
Let Xn = span{L1, ... , Ln}. Then we express n as a
(A24) linear combination
Lj(u) = ~(tH1 - t), t E [tj, tjHl,
n

0, t~[tj~1,tH1]' n(u) = LakLk(U) (A28)

k=l
With data given by the values g(tj),j = 1, ... ,n of a and the integral operator PnK n as
function g E X the mapping g f--t gn defines an opera-
tor Pn : X -t Xn called an interpolation operator:

n
Png(t) = L g(tj)Lj(t). (A25) (A29)
j=l

The following fundamental result from approximation theory where k is the kernel introduced in equation (17). Hence we
is crucial to the study. The proof is short and elegant and see that equation (A27) is equivalent to the linear system
therefore included.
n
2: {Lk(Uj) - (KLk)(Uj) }ak = i(uj), (A30)
Theorem A Let g E 02[0,,]. Then, for the error in k=l
piecewise linear interpolation there holds j = 1, ... ,n

1 for the coefficients a1, ... , an. If we use the Lagrange

IlPng - glloo s Sh211g"1100 basis to approximate the solution then, of course
aj = akLk(Uj) = n(Uj), j = 1, ... ,n and the sys-
where Ilglloo:= SUPa-E[O,')']
Ig(u)l tem equation(A30) becomes

Proof: Obviously, the maximum of IPng - gl in [tj - tjH] (A31)

is attained at an interior point ~ where g'(~) = {g(tjH) -
g( tj)} I h. Without loss of generality we may assume that j = 1, ... ,n.
ACUSTICA acta acustica
Vol. 84 (1998)
In terms of the integral operator Pn the numerical method
assumes the form
(A32)
Note that each solution cPn E X belongs to the subspace
Xn. Applying the interpolation operator to equation (A26)
and subtracting from equation (A32) we find
(A33)
It is possible, but beyond the scope of this work, to show
that the inverse operators (1 - PnK)-l exist and are uni-
formly bounded for sufficiently large number of elements.
The proposition is valid if the integral operator has the fol-
lowing properties K : X -+ X is a compact operator (two
spheres are separated see [20]) and 1- K is injective (interior
Dirichlet problem in each sphere has no non-trivial solution).
Hence, from Theorem A,
IlcPn - cPlloo < MllPncP - cPlloo
(A34)
whereM = 11(1 -PnK)~llloo > 0, M' = MI8 are constants.
In actual numerical calculations, usually instead of equa-
tion (A34) an approximate version, of the form
(A35)
will be solved where Kn is some approximation to K (the
geometry may be approximated or Gaussian quadrature is
used). The error estimate follows from
IlcPn - cPlloo :S M {llPncP - cPlloo
(A36)
Acknowledgement
The second author was supported by the 'La Caixa' Founda-
tion and 'La ClRIT' (Generalitat de Catalunya), Barcelona,
Spain. The third author gratefully acknowledges the PMA
Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leu-
ven for a Fellowship between 1996-1997.
Morfey et al.: Radiation by two spheres 711
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