The Scattering of Shock Waves by Cylindrical Cavities in Liquids and Solids

The scattering of a plane acoustic shock wave by a cylindrical cavity in an inviscid fluid medium is calculated numerically and compared with a recently obtained asymptotic expansion. In contrast to the scattering by a rigid cylinder, the cavity displays a distinctive shielding effect in the shadow region characterized by a peak exitation and an inverse logarithmic decay. Experimental results are presented which indicate a strong counterpart in plastic shock diffraction.