Technical Memoranda issued by Acoustics Research Laboratory
(F. V. Hunt, Director)
Complied by
Harvard University
1947--1971
Table of Contents
D. T. Blackstock - Foreword
W. M. Wright Bio-Sketches of Authors of Harvard Acoustics Lab Technical
Memoranda
TM1 A. A. Janszen - Simplified procedures for reciprocity calibration
TM2 C.A. Ewaskio - Electroacoustic phase shift in loudspeakers
TM3 G. J. Holton - Ultrasonic propagation in liquids under high pressures
TM4 Osman K. Mawardi -Sound propagation in horns. I Generalized solutions of Webster’s horn
theory
TM5 Osman K. Mawardi - On the propagation of sound waves in narrow conduits
TM6 Osman K. Mawardi - Measurement of acoustic impedance
TM7 R. L. Pritchard - Optimum directivity patterns for linear arrays
TM8 F. G. Blake, Jr. - A magnetostriction probe hydrophone
TM9 F. G. Blake, Jr. - The tensile strength of liquids: A review of the literature
TM10 F. G. Miller - Development of the type 48-A power-level recorder
TM11 F. G. Blake, Jr. - Apparatus and techniques for a study of cavitation
TM12 F. G. Blake, Jr. - The onset of cavitation in liquids. I Cavitation threshold sound pressures
in water as a function of temperature and hydrostatic pressure
TM13 Harold G. Elrod, Jr. - The propagation of small disturbances in boundary-layers of
compressible fluids
TM14 Osman K. Mawardi - Sound propagation in horns II. Throat impedance of finite horns
TM15 F. V. Hunt, R. L. Pritchard, and A. A. Janszen - The coaxial electrostatic transducer
TM16 Not Issued
TM17 A. A. Janszen, R. L. Pritchard, andF. V. Hunt - Electrostatic loudspeakers
TM18 James J. Faran, Jr. - Apparatus for the measurement of the scattering of sound
TM19 Preston W. Smith, Jr. - Apparatus and technique for sound velocity measurements
TM20 Frank G. Miller - Stylus-groove relations in phonograph records
TM21 Robert L. Pritchard - Directivity of acoustic linear point arrays
TM22 James J. Faran, Jr. - Sound scattering by solid cylinders and spheres
TM23 Robert Hills, Jr. - Synthesis of directivity patterns of acoustic line sources
TM24 Miguel C. Junger - Sound scattering and radiation from thin elastic shells
TM25 Murray D. Rosenberg - Pulsations and growth of gas-filled bubbles in sound fields
TM26 Murray D. Rosenberg - Gaseous-type cavitation in liquids
TM27 James J. Faran, Jr.and Robert Hills, Jr. - Correlators for signal reception
TM28 James J. Faran, Jr. and Robert Hills, Jr. - The application of correlation techniques to acoustic receiving receiving systems
TM29 Preston W. Smith, Jr. - Computation of the velocity of sound in gases
TM30 Preston W. Smith, Jr. - Measurement of the velocity of sound in gases
TM31 James J. Faran, Jr. and Robert Hills, Jr. - Wide-band directivity of receiving arrays
TM32 Harold Levine - On the theory of sound reflection in an open-ended cylindrical tube
TM33 Theodore J. Schultz - An acoustic wattmeter
TM34 Miguel C. Junger - Theory and design of an end-fire directive sound source
TM35 Theodore J. Schultz - A miniature condenser microphone employing a flexible diaphragm
controlled by air stiffness
TM36 John V. Bouyoucos - Self-excited hydrodynamic oscillators
TM37 Victor C. Anderson - The Deltic correlator
TM38 Hugh G. Flynn - Collapse of a transient cavity in a compressible liquid Part I: An
approximate solution
TM39 Richard M. White - The scattering of compressional and shear waves from a cylindrical
elastic discontinuity in an isotropic solid
TM40 John F. Hersh - Coupling coefficients
TM41 W. Richard Stroh - A 25-millisecond electromagnetic delay line
TM42 W. Richard Stroh - Phase shift in electroacoustic transducers
TM43 David T. Blackstock - Propagation and reflection of plane sound waves of finite amplitude in
gases
TM44 Wilfred J. Remillard - The acoustics of thunder
TM45 Frederick H. Fisher - Dissociation and volume of an aqueous bivalent sulfate solution
TM46 Frederick H. Fisher - Effects of pressure and dielectric constant on sound absorption in
magnesium sulfate solutions
TM47 Wayne M. Wright - High-frequency electrostatic transducers for use in gases
TM48 Wayne M. Wright - The use of amplitude modulation for the measurement of ultrasonic
velocity dispersion in gases
TM49 Robert A. Walkling - Dynamic measurement of the hardness of plastics
TM50 H. G. Flynn - Cavitation dynamics: I. A mathematical formulation
TM51 Not issued
TM52 H. G. Flynn - Cavitation dynamics. II. Free pulsations and models for cavitation
bubbles
TM53 Not issued
TM54 Not issued
TM55 Robert W. Pyle, Jr. - Solid torsional horns
TM56 Harry A. Schenck - ZYP—An automatic impedance and admittance plotter
TM57 James E. Barger - Thresholds of acoustic cavitation in water
TM58 Stephen P. Gill - The diffraction of light by sound
TM59 Harry A. Schenck - Bilaminar ceramic flexural vibrators
TM60 Stephen H. Burns - Finite-amplitude traveling waves with boundary dissipation
TM61 Lawrence A. Crum and Anthony I. Eller - The motion of bubbles in a stationary sound field
TM62 Robert E. Apfel - Vapor cavity formation in liquids
TM63 James V. White - The stylus-groove interaction in phonograph playback
TM64 F. V. Hunt - Signal-rate processing for transit detection 1. Experimental test
equipment for a time-scaled model
TM65 Nai-chyuan Yen - Subharmonic generation in acoustic systems
Final Report F. V. Hunt N5ori-76 (Project Order 10) [NR 384-903}
Final Report F. V. Hunt Final Report: 1946-1970
Like many other scientists whose professional lives were interrupted, and shaped, by
World War II, Frederick Vinton Hunt—Ted to his colleagues and friends—had a three-part
career: prewar, wartime, and postwar. In Hunt’s case all three periods were spent at the same
institution, Harvard University. Prior to 1941 he established himself as a researcher, inventor,
and teacher. Of his seven doctoral students who began their work during this period, three—Leo
Beranek, Maa Dah You, and Robert Watson—finished before the US entered the war; the other
four, their education having been interrupted, graduated in 1946 or 1947. When hostilities
became imminent, Hunt set aside his academic activities and founded and directed the Harvard
Underwater Sound Laboratory (HUSL). Immediately after the war HUSL was disbanded, and
Hunt returned to academic pursuits. This marked the beginning of the third phase of his career, a
partial result of which is the collection of Technical Memoranda that make up this publication.
So successful had HUSL been in solving problems of critical interest to the Navy that it
was ready in 1946 to support the basic research in acoustics that Hunt proposed on his return to
academia. The administrative unit created at Harvard for the new research was the Acoustics
Research Laboratory in the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics. Hunt’s plan was for
the research to be carried out primarily as thesis topics by doctoral students, rather than as
projects done by full-time research staff. Later, postdoctoral fellows, most of whom were home
grown, were added. The description of the proposed research was by today’s standards
amazingly general: “research in the field of acoustics including problems arising in the
generation, propagation and study of airborne sounds and sounds in liquids and solids with a
view to greater emphasis on fundamental studies of the physical factors underlying acoustical
phenomena, including such of the following problems as are deemed by the contractor to be
desirable…” There followed a list of diverse problems whose only common denominator was
acoustics. Hunt’s proposal was in marked contrast to today’s highly specialized and missiondriven
academic research statements. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) bought the idea and
provided reliable and continued support of Hunt’s laboratory until 1971, one year after Hunt retired.
During the 25-year period of ONR support, 30 doctorates were completed; about half the
recipients stayed on for one to four years as postdoctoral fellows. Another eight postdocs came
from other universities. The picture above is a snapshot of Acoustics Research Laboratory
people in 1960, taken in Hunt's office.
The Harvard Acoustics Research Laboratory research results were disseminated formally
by means of reports called technical memoranda (TMs). These are the 61 reports that constitute
this publication (although the numbering is 1 to 65, Nos. 16, 51, 53, and 54 were never issued).
Also included is Hunt’s Final Report. Journal publication was of course strongly encouraged as
well, and Enclosures E in the Final Report lists the relevant abstracts and articles. About half the
TMs are doctoral theses in report form though some incorporate substantial additions. Most of
the other half represent output by the postdoctoral fellows. Having an unusually broad range for
a single research group, the topics represented by the TMs fall mainly in the following
categories: radiation, propagation, and scattering; bubbles and cavitation; acoustical instruments;
electroacoustic transducers; and properties of solids, liquids, and gases. In the framework of
the present JASA editorial responsibilities, the topics fit under general linear acoustics, nonlinear
acoustics, underwater sound, ultrasonics and physical acoustics, transduction, instrumentation,
applied acoustics, and acoustical signal processing.
To return to the present, why publish a set of reports that are now 35-60 years old? The
distribution of the reports was primarily to individuals and universities at that time active in
acoustics. Good collections therefore developed at certain universities. However, times have
changed. New acoustics programs have developed that have no access to the reports. At the
same time, the old collections have been discarded as libraries have been sorely pressed for space
to accommodate new materials. As a result availability of the reports is now extremely limited.
An anecdote makes the point. Recently a graduate student at a university having a major
acoustics program badly needed access to one of the TMs to get construction details of a device,
details not contained in any journal article. The student tried the university library, which at one
time had had an excellent collection of the Harvard TMs, only to learn that the collection had
been discarded ten years ago to make room for more recent publications. The present
publication will make the entire collection of Harvard Acoustics Laboratory TMs widely
available.
I’m sure I speak for all Hunt’s students in expressing appreciation to the Acoustical
Society of America for undertaking the task of publishing the “Harvard TMs,” particularly to
ASA Editor-in-Chief Allan Pierce, who came up with the idea. Thanks are also due to Ronald A.
Roy, Boston University, who made the lion’s share of the TMs available from Robert E. Apfel’s
collection, and to Alan O. Sykes, ONR alumnus, who found a way to obtain eight TMs that were
once thought to be unobtainable.
David T. Blackstock
University of Texas at Austin
24 July 2005
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