Sound Emissions by a Laboratory Bubble Cloud

This paper presents the results obtained from a detailed study of the sound field within and around a cylindrical column of bubbles generated at the center of an experimental water tank. The bubbles were produced by forcing air through a circular array of hypodermic needles. As they separated from the needles the ‘‘birthing wails’’ produced were found to excite the column into normal modes of oscillation whose spatial pressure?amplitude distribution could be tracked in the vertical and horizontal directions. The frequencies of vibration were predicted from theoretical calculations based on a collective oscillation model and showed close agreement with the experimentally measured values. On the basis of a model of the column excitation, absolute sound levels were analytically calculated with results again in agreement with the measured values. These findings provide considerable new evidence to support the notion that bubble plumes can be a major source of underwater sound around frequencies of a few hundred hertz.