No abstract

Unlike the application of the Biot model for fused glass beads, which was conclusively demonstrated by Berryman ͓Appl. Phys. Lett. 37͑4͒, 382-384 ͑1980͔͒ using the experimental measurements by Plona ͓Appl. Phys. Lett. 36, 259-261 ͑1980͔͒, the model for unconsolidated water-saturated sand has been more elusive. The difficulty is in the grain to grain contact physics. Unlike the fused glass beads, the connection between the unconsolidated sand grains is not easily modeled. Measurements over a broad range of frequencies show that the sound speed dispersion is significantly greater than that predicted by the Biot-Stoll model with constant coefficients, and the observed sound attenuation does not seem to follow a consistent power law. The sound speed dispersion may be explainable in terms of the Biot plus squirt flow ͑BISQ͒ model of Dvorkin and Nur ͓Geophysics 58͑4͒, 524 -533 ͑1993͔͒. By using a similar approach that includes grain contact squirt flow and viscous drag ͑BICSQS͒, the observed diverse behavior of the attenuation was successfully modeled.

Pulsed molecular beam and mass spectrometric techniques are used to study the adsorption of hydrogen chloride on thin ice films at temperatures from 100 to 170 K. The adsorption and desorption of HCl from an ice surface is relevant to the polar stratosphere where it is thought that chlorine atoms are liberated from reservoir species such as HCl by heterogeneous reactions occurring on the surface of polar stratospheric clouds. We have measured the sticking coefficient for HCl at an incident translational energy of 0.09 eV on thin film ice surfaces using a modified version of the reflectivity technique of King and Wells. By modeling the HCl partial pressure versus time waveforms for surface temperatures of 100−125 K, we obtain a sticking coefficient of 0.91 ± 0.06. The model incorporates first-order HCl desorption and a loss term also first order in HCl. Fitted kinetic parameters are E des = 28 kJ/mol, νdes = 2 × 1014 s-1 for desorption and E loss = 21 kJ/mol, νloss = 4 × 1011 s-1 for the loss. The loss may be associated with the onset of water diffusion on the ice surface and subsequent ionization or hydration of the HCl. The measured waveforms are inconsistent with diffusion of HCl into the bulk. The apparent reflectivity decreases substantially in the temperature range of 126 to 140 K. This decrease cannot be attributed to an increase in sticking coefficient, a phase change in the ice, or the formation of the hexahydrate state of HCl.

An improvement in the modeling of shear wave attenuation and speed in water-saturated sand and glass beads is introduced. Some dry and water-saturated materials are known to follow a constant-Q model in which the attenuation, expressed as Q(-1), is independent of frequency. The associated loss mechanism is thought to lie within the solid frame. A second loss mechanism in fluid-saturated porous materials is the viscous loss due to relative motion between pore fluid and solid frame predicted by the Biot-Stoll model. It contains a relaxation process that makes the Q(-1) change with frequency, reaching a peak at a characteristic frequency. Examination of the published measurements above 1 kHz, particularly those of Brunson (Ph.D. thesis, Oregon State University, Corvalis, 1983), shows another peak, which is explained in terms of a relaxation process associated with the squirt flow process at the grain-grain contact. In the process of deriving a model for this phenomenon, it is necessary to consider the micro-fluidic effects associated with the flow within a thin film of water confined in the gap at the grain-grain contact and the resulting increase in the effective viscosity of water. The result is an extended Biot model that is applicable over a broad band of frequencies.

Quantifying acoustic scattering from rough interfaces is critical for reverberation modeling, acoustic sediment characterization, and propagation modeling. In this study, a finite element (FE) scattering model is developed. The model computes the plane wave scattering strength for an ensemble of rough power-law surfaces for ocean bottoms described as fluid and elastic. The FE model is compared with two models based on approximations to the Helmholtz-Kirchhoff integral: the Kirchhoff approximation (KA) and the perturbation theory (PT). In the case of a fluid-like bottom, the KA and FE models agree except at small grazing angles. The PT and FE models deviate near specular especially at small angles. For the elastic case, the PT predicts the FE results well except at the intromission angle of the shear wave. The KA deviates for angles that are below the critical angle of the compressional wave. At the shear wave intromission angle, the FE model shows a more plausible solution likely due to multiple scattering events that are not accounted for in PT for the modeled roughness.