The current study considers piezoelectric ceramic electromechanical transducers utilizing axisymmetric vibrations of complete and incomplete spherical shells. Analysis is focused on generating the modes of vibration that can be employed in the design of multimode unidirectional electroacoustic transducers for underwater applications and on determining the electrode configurations that achieve optimal electromechanical coupling for the different modes of vibration considered. Analytical expressions are presented for the modal and intermodal equivalent parameters characterizing the energy state of the shell vibration. Results of calculation and experimental verification of the resonance frequencies and effective coupling coefficients for different modes of vibration of the complete and incomplete spherical shells are in good agreement.
A cylindrical piezoceramic transducer using two orthogonal dipoles driven in phase quadrature to create an acoustic spiral wave, having constant amplitude and phase that varies linearly with azimuthal angle, is considered as a source for an underwater acoustic navigation system. Comparison of the spiral-wave signal with an omnidirectional reference signal having a constant phase originating from the same or co-located source provides a means for an underwater vehicle to determine its bearing angle relative to the signaling beacon [B. Hefner and B. Dzikowicz, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 129(6), 3630-3639 (2011)]. An alternative proof-of-principle transducer along with experimental results including transmit frequency response, directional factors, and computed versus measured bearing angle are presented.
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