The propagation of plane sound waves in narrow and wide circular tubes, and generalization to uniform tubes of arbitrary cross-sectional shape

The general Kirchhoff theory of sound propagation in a circular tube is shown to take a considerably simpler form in a regime that includes both narrow and wide tubes. For tube radii greater than rw=10−3 cm and sound frequencies f such that rwf3/2106 cm s−3/2, the Kirchhoff solution reduces to the approximate solution suggested by Zwikker and Kosten. In this regime, viscosity and thermal conductivity effects are treated separately, within complex density and complex compressibility functions. The sound pressure is essentially constant through each cross section, and the excess density and sound pressure (when scaled by the equilibrium density and pressure of air, respectively) are comparable in magnitude. These last two observations are assumed to apply to uniform tubes having arbitrary cross-sectional shape, and a generalized theory of sound propagation in narrow and wide tubes is derived. The two-dimensional wave equation that results can be used to describe the variation of either particle velocity or excess temperature over a cross section. Complex density and compressibility functions, propagation constants, and characteristic impedances may then be calculated. As an example, this procedure has been used to determine the propagation characteristics for a tube of rectangular cross section.