THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOLUME 22, NUMBER 5 SEPTEMBER, 1950

Resonance Characteristics of a Finite Catenoidal Horn

G. J. THIESSEN
National ResearchCouncil,Ottawa, Canada
(ReceivedApril 1, 1950)

Expressions for the impedancecomponents of a finite catenoidalhorn are derivedand a comparisonwith

similar exponentialand conicalhornsmade. The impedanceof a sectionof a catenoidalhorn is also calcu-
lated and it is shownhow, for the finite as well as the infinite horn, this approachesthat of the exponential
as more length is trimmed from the throat end.
The assumptionthat the resonancecharacteristicsof a horn are the sameas that of a uniform tube, pro-
vided the highervelocity of soundfor the horn is used,seemsto be borneout for the catenoidalhorn but for
the exponentialhorn the agreementis not very goodexceptat higherfrequencies.

INTRODUCTION
where ½ is the velocity potential of the wave, b= (k•
--m2)•, k= 2,fiX=co/c,and A and B are the constants
HEcatenoidal
hornwas
firstdiscussed
in1946
by of integration. The other symbolshave their usual
Salmon I and has since attracted considerable
attentionTMdue to its characteristic(if infinitely long) significance.The impedanceat any point in the horn
of presentinga purely resistiveimpedanceat the throat. is, of course,obtainedin the usualway fromZ= p/S•,
The present discussionis concernedwith the finite where p=-t•&k/Ot=excess pressure in the wave,
horn and a comparisonof its resonancecharacteristics •= particlevelocityin the wave=&k/Ox,S= area of
with similar exponentialand conicalhorns. the horn at the point in question,and Z= impedance
at the point x. Thus,
IMPEDANCE OF A FINITE CATENOIDAL HORN

The area of a catenoidalhorn is givenby

S= Socosh2mx,
1•cc[
Smtanhmx[_•
5cosbxq-B•i-
'
b(Asinbx--Bco
At the mouth we have the impedanceZ2 which may
whereSois the areaat the throat, x is the distancealong be obtained by substitutingx--/=length of the horn.
the axis of the horn, and m is a constantdetermining Similarly, at the throat of the horn x-0 and the cor-
the rate of flare. For this casethe solutionof the equa- respondingimpedanceis Z1. From the two equations
tion for a wave in a conduit becomes
for the two impedances Z1 and Z2 the constantsA and
ok=(ei'øt/coshmx) (A'e-ibx-+-
B'e+ibx) B may be eliminatedresultingin the followingexpres-
sion for the throat impedancein terms of the mouth
or, more conveniently impedance:
4)= (ei•t/coshmx) (A cosbx-+-
B sinbx), pc ik
I-- • •
S• b

(ipc/S2)(k/Z2)sinbl--m
tanhm/sinbl+b
cosb/]
X (ipc/S2)(k/Z2)cosbl--m
tanhm/cosbl--b
sinb/]
(1)

or, after dividing throughby cosb/

whereP- b--m tanhm/tanb/and Q- b tanbl-}-mtanhm/.

For the impedanceat the mouth we adopt the im-
pedanceof a piston in an infinite bafflewhich is given
by :4

Z•=
PC[
S2L
l_J•(2kR)
kR
+_iKl(2kR)]
2k•R • J
active component.

• V. Salmon,
J. Acous.
Soc.Am.17,212(1946). = (i•c/S2)(N-}-iM), (2)
•'P.M. Morse, Vibrationand Sound(McGraw-Hill Book Com-
pany, Inc., New York, 1948),secondedition,pp. 269-285. 4H. F. Olson, Elementsof AcousticalEngineering(D. Van
sO. K. Mawardi, J. Acous. Soc. Am. 21 323 (1949); also Nostrandand Company,Inc., New York, 1947), secondedition,
O. N. R. Tech. Memo. Nos. 4 (May, 1949)and 14 (June15, 1949). p. 91.
558

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 FINITE CATENOIDAL HORN 559

whereR is the radiusof the mouth,N= 1--Jl(2kR)/kR

and M=KI(2kR)/2k•'R •'. When this is substitutedin
(1) and the real and imaginarycomponents separated
we get for the resistivecomponentof the throat im-
pedance

r•S•[cos2bl[N•.p2+ik_Mp)•.•] (3)

and for the reactivecomponent

x•=--
S1Pc•[(ktanblq-MP)(k-MQ)-N2PQ]
N•'Q•'q-(k-MQ) •
. (4)
0./'

The variation of rl with frequencywill showmaxima

and minima similar to any horn of finite length. How-
•oo RO0 3JO0 ! •oo
ever, the behavior near the critical frequency is of
specialinterest. Considerthe behavior of the minima
oftheresonance
curvewhenthehornissufficiently
long Fro. 2. The components
of the throat impedanceratio of a coni-
cal hornwith the sameover-alldimensionsas thoseof Fig. 1.
to make M<<N. These will occur when Q becomesin-
finite and hence (k-MQ) •' may be neglectedin Eq.
ing asbefore.For Z•. we canagainusethe valuegiven
(3) comparedto N•'Q• and sinceQ is now essentially in (2) and for frequencies
higherthan the critical fre-
b tanb/, the denominatorof the acousticresistanceratio
quencythe separationof real and imaginaryparts
(reference2, p. 242) becomesN•'b•'sin•bl=N•'b•'. Hence givesus
the acoustic resistance ratio reduces to

rlSl/pc= kyb•N = 1/N(1- 1

r•=•l1(Q-M)•'+
N•'J (6)
where v representsthe frequency.
This becomesvery large as we approachthe critical
frequencyand of coursethe peaks of the resonance Xl--
•1 +('• .•,.•._•_
•V'- 1
•' j. (7)
curve will be still larger. It seemsreasonabletherefore
to expectmuchhigherpeaksin the resonancecurvesof I-In evaluatingthe aboveexpressions
confusion
may
result from the fact that 0 is a multi-valued function of
a catenoidal horn than in either the exponential or
conicalhorn. This was actually pointed out in a more --m/b. While tan0 is the samefor the two possible
generalway by Ballantine who stated5 "In the caseof quadrantsin which 0 is chosen,neither cos(hi--O)nor
the finite horn. ßßtheseresultsare modifiedby resonance cos(hi+O) will be the same in the two casesand a
definite choice must be made. It is obvious that -m
due to reflectionfrom the mouth-.-. The pressure
curveas thus modifiedand serratedfollowsin a general is alwaysnegative.If the negativesquareroot is chosen
for the value of b then a reversal of the forward and
way the pressurecurve for the infinite horn."
backward traveling waves is affected and this would
IMPEDANCE OF A FINITE EXPONENTIAL HORN have to be correctedby putting -b whereverb occurs.
The impedanceratio of a finite exponentialhorn Henceit resultsin a positivequantity in any caseand
whosecross-sectional
area is S-Sle TM, is given by :4 so 0 is placedin the fourth quadranthavingvaluesbe-
tween3,¾2and2,ror between
zeroand-,r/2. Actually
•cos(b/-0).-I 0 was introducedby the equationsk sin0---m and
k cos0--b. If these substitutions are made after P and

git--7n;7--
[C-- '/--'
c'-øs(bT+oi[
(i-•2t•j
Q are expandedwe obtain the expressions P=(1/k)
X (b cotbl--m) and Q= (.1/k)(bcotbl+m), which are
quite unambiguous.]
IMPEDANCE OF A FINITE CONICAL HORN

where O=tan-l-m/b, b=(k•'-m•) •, P=cos(bl--O)/ The impedanceat the throat of a finite conicalhorn
sinb/,Q= cos(b/+O)/sinbl,Z•.'= impedanceratio of the whosearea is given by S=SlX • (where $1 is the area
mouth, and the rest of the symbolshave the samemean- for x--1) may be foundin most textbooks 4 and is:

Z•.
=Ss
PCik[ ZaSakhl
coskLq-
(ipcohl-
ZaSah)sinkL ],
t(i•khl+Z-•S•kL•co-••[-•p•}•Z-•S•(k•'-•-})]sinkLl
(8)

• S. Ballantine, J. Frank. Inst. 203, 100 (1927).

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 560 G.j. THIESSEN

• / I I I I I iI
Fro. 4. The resistive
component of theimpedance ratioat the
throatof a catenoidal
hornlikein Fig.3 but withthethroatsitu-
ated at x= 10 in. The length is therefore54 in. and the throat
Fro. 3. The components
of the throatimpedance
ratio of a diameter is 1.17 in.
catenoidalhorn with the same over-all dimensionsas those of
Figs. 1 and 2.
distance
fromtheapexto themouth,andL= l--h= the
lengthof the horn.The othersymbols
havethe same
whereZ•. is the impedanceat the throat whosearea is meaning
asbefore.ForZaweagainaccept theexpres-
S2,Z3istheimpedance at themouthwhose areaisS3, sioncorrespondingto (2) with the appropriate
sub-
h is thedistance fromtheapexto thethroat,1is the script.This reduces(8) to

Z•.=-•-Cik[
NkhlcoskL--
hN
S2 [NkLcoskL-N(k%l+ sinkL+i(Mkhl
coskL+
khlsinkL--
hM sinkL)
l)sinkL+i[(k%l+MkL)coskL+(kl_M(k%l+ ]
l))sinkL•

it>c[NP-+-i(MPq-
k2hl
sinkL) (9)
=•[NQ4-i-•-••k--•hl
•skL• •inkL]
whereP= k2hlcoskL--
khsinkLandQ= kL coskL--(k2hl Rationalizing
andseparating
therealandimaginary
+ 1)sinkL. parts leads to

r2=
P•[ Nkah21•'
]
N•'Q•'+(MQ+ k%l coskL+kl sinkL)•'
(lO)

X2
=pc[N•'PQ-½
S2[ (MP-+-
k%l
sink/)(MQq-
k•'hl
coskL-+-
klsinkL)
]
N2Q2+(MQ+ k2hlcoskL+kl sinkL)
•'
. (11)

COMPARISON OF IMPEDANCE
sirableonein normalsoundreproduction but maybe
The resonant of finite,exponential,an advantage
characteristics underspecialcircumstances wheresingle
andconical horns hasbeentreatedbyothers 4 frequenciesare used.
previously
andoneof theseimpedance ratiocurvesis reproduced An example of suchan applicationwouldbe in fog
horn.Figure2 givesthe horns.The usualair pressure
in Fig. 1 for the exponential for the powersourceis
impedance ratio for the corresponding conicalhorn abouttwoatmospheres andforreasonable efficiency
the
with the same mouth and throat sizesand the same alternatingpressure
developed
in the loadshouldbe of
length.Due to the lowervelocityof soundin a conical the orderof oneatmosphere or 10ø dynes/cm •-which
hornits lowestresonance frequencyis well belowthat wouldlead to an intensityof about2500watts/cm 2.
of the exponential
hornasseenby the riseof the curve In thetype"B" diaphone, widelyusedin fogsignaling
around100 c.p.s.The lowestpeakactuallyoccursat andhavinga throatdiameterof over5 cm,thiswould
89 c.p.s. and has a maximum of 0.18. leadto an outputof about50,000watts.Sincetheactual
Thecatenoidal horncurves areshownin Fig.3 where outputobtained in practiceisof theorderof 500watts,
it will be notedthat the firstpeakin the resistivecom- or a good deal less,a seriousmismatchwould be in-
ponentisaboutsixtimesashighasthepeakin the cor- dicated.The high impedance,resultingfrom the use
respondingexponentialhorn. The differenceis less of thecatenoidal hornat resonance, should
improve the
marked at higher frequenciesbut continuesto be in performance considerably. Even an exponential horn
the samedirection.This conditionis of coursean unde- is far superior
to theconical
hornsthatareat present

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 FINITE CATENOIDAL HORN 561

INFINITE CATENOIDAL HORN WITH THROAT AT x = h

in use.This of course
presupposes
a constantfrequency
of the sourcewhich is a conditionnot always obtained How the catenoidalhorn approachesthe exponential
in the caseof fog horns. horn as longersectionsare cut from the throat is best
seen in the case of the infinite horn. If the throat is
IMPEDANCE OF A SECTION OF A CATENOIDAL HORN
locatedat x-- h and the mouthat infinity the impedance
Strictly speaking,any finite horn is a sectionof the ratio at the throat is
corresponding infinitehorn,with the throatandmouth
bk+ikm tanhmh
at x=0 and x-l, respectively. However,the casewhere
z•'= . (•5)
the throat is not at the origin is alsoof interestin cer- b•.-l-m•. tanh•-mh
tain caseswheretrimming of an existinghorn is neces-
sary.This may occurwhena horn is designed
for its In Fig. 5 the real part of this is plotted against the fre-
resonancecharacteristicsat a specificfrequencyand quencyfor a horn with a cut-offat 100 c.p.s. The flare
subsequent testsindicatethat a slight adjustmentis is given by m=0.0182 cm-• and the curvesare given
necessary. In suchcasesit is oftenmoreconvenientto for h-0, 10, 30, and 70 cm. For comparisonpurposes
trim the throat than the mouth, especiallywhenexist- the resistanceratio for an infinite exponentialhorn with
ing directionalitypatternshaveto be maintained. the'samecut-off frequencyis given in the lower dotted
In eliminatingour constantsA and B [preceding curve.

Eq. (1)-] the pointswherethe impedanceZ• and Z•. It should,of course,be borne in mind that, due to
occur are now x-h and x-1 and the equation corre- the changein S, the factor t•c/S also changeswhen
spondingto (1) becomes sections are cut from the throat.

SIMPLIFIED METHOD FOR LOCATING RESISTANCE

ip&[iktanbL+PZ/1
Z•=•.
L •••, j, (12)
MAXIMA AND MINIMA

In consideringthe impedanceat oneend of a uniform

where L= l--h= length of horn, Z•.'= S•.Z•./pc=
im- tube, the other end of which is open, it is found that
pedanceratio of the mouth, P=b-m tanhm/tanbL, the resistancemaxima occurwheneverthe tube length
Q= b tanbLq-mtanhm/,T= Pm tanhmh- bQ,U= b-l-m equalsan odd multiple of r/4, or the frequencies at
tanhmh tanbL. which the maximaoccurare givenby
The rest of the symbolshave the samemeaningas v= (c/41)(2n+1), (16)
before.Substitutingthe usualvalue for the impedance
ratio at the mouth of the horn and separatingthe real where n is integral. It seemsreasonableto expect a
similar relation to hold in the caseof hornsprovided
and imaginaryparts, we get for the impedancecom-
that the appropriatevelocity of soundis used (and
ponents'
providedthat reflections fromhornwallsare neglected,
see reference2, p. 268). The velocity of sound in a
rl=pcNk•'[
PU--
TtanbL
]
S•[T•'N•-•+•M--•)•"J
(13) catenoidalhorn is given by
-

x•-pck[
- & tPTN•'-I-(PMq-ktanbL)(TM-I-kU)
r•-N•-+
(rM+ •U)•- ]' (14)
When h approaches zero,L becomes
equalto 1 and P
andQ havethesamemeaningasin (1). SinceT becomes
-bQ and U=b, the aboveequations reduceto (3) and
(4), respectively.
As an indication of the effect that trimming on the
throat end will have on the characteristicsof a' horn,
Eq. (13) has beenplottedin Fig. 4 for the samehorn
asFig. 3. The throathoweveris at x= 10in. insteadof
x-0 which reducesthe length of the horn from 64 to ..
.............
54 in. and increases the throat diameter from 1.0 to ß
ß

ß ,, '
1.17 in. The resonancesare all shifted to higher fre-
quencies (aswouldbe expected for a shorterhorn)and
the heightof the peaksis greatly reduced.The latter
changeis alsoreasonablesincethe differencebetweena
catenoidalhorn and an exponentialhorn is in the first Fro. $. T•½ resistivecompo•½• o• •½ ;mpcd•c½ milo
throat of an infinite catenoidal horn with the throat situated at
part of the hornandfor longdistances
awayfrom the x-- h cm. The lowerdottedcurvegivesthe valuefor an exponential
origin the two are identical. horn with the samecritical frequencyof 100 c.p.s.

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 ,562 G. J. THIESSEN

TABLU I. Location of resistancepeaksin a TABLE II. Location of resistancepeaks in an

catenoidalhorn, vc= 124 c.p.s. exponentialhorn, vc= 100 c.p.s.

from Fig. 3 v from Fig. 1

reactive reactive
Peak No. v from Eq. (17) v from Fig. 3 component Peak No. v from Eq. (17) v from Fig. 1 component

1 132.5 132 132 1 110.3 123 123

2 187.5 185 186 2 172.6 185 185
3 265 265 266 3 255 266 266

4 35O 355 355 4 343 357 358

5 440 445 446 5 433 450 450
6 530 540 545 6 525 548 548

7 622 640 640 7 618 642 640

8 714 730 730 8 710 730 730
9 807 820 810 9 803 810 810
10 900 905 900 10 898 900 900

where vcis the cut-off frequency.When this expression Table II showsa similar comparisonfor the exponen-
for c' is usedin placeof c above,solvingfor v2resultsin tial horn. Column4 heregivesthe frequenciesfor which
the average value of each reactance maximum and
v•---(c"/16/"(2n+ 1)•'-3-v?. (17)
subsequentreactanceminimum occurs.This is not the
Table I shows in column 2 the maxima as obtained same in this case as in the case of the catenoidal .
horn
from (17)6 and in column3 the maxima obtainedfrom where the average was zero. The agreementis not as
Fig. 3. Column 4 gives the frequenciesat which the goodin this caseand it is in fact doubtfulwhetherthis
steeperparts of the reactancecurve (i.e., the part be- method of locatingmaxima is at all usefulat the lower
tween a maximum and subsequentminimum) go frequencies.At the higher frequenciesthe agreementis
through zero. The agreementis about the sameas in again good.
column 3.
In a conicalhorn the velocity of soundis the sameas
6 Instead of l the effective length l+0.82R, as given by Lord in free spaceand henceit would be expectedthat the
Rayleigh[Theoryof Sound(Dover Publications,New York, 1945),
secondrevised edition, Appendix A] was used. J. W. Miles maxima would occurat frequenciesgiven by Eq. (16)
[J. Acous.Soc.Am. 20, 660 (1948)] haspointedout that actually as it stands.There is howeverno agreementin this case.
Rayleigh'smaximumof 0.849R is the correctvalue for low fre- The first two maxima as calculated from this relation
quencies.Howeverthe rangeoverwhichthis correctionis usedhere
shouldbe at 46.8 and 140.3c.p.s.,respectively.Figure3
(kR=0.52 to 4.3) is far beyond that over which the correctionis
independentof frequency(kR=0 to 0.5) and doesnot evencon-
however showsthat they occur at 89 and 182 c.p.s.,
form to the inequality kR<3.83 which is the conditionthat only
planewavesare propagated. [Phys. respectively.
H. Levineand J. Schwinger
Rev. 73, 383 (1948)] have calculatedthe end correctionfor a
tube without the infinite baffle and find a value which varies from ACKNOWLEDGMENT
0.613 to 0.14 over the region 0<kR<3.83. While the boundary
conditionsfor a straight-walledpipe differ a gooddeal from those The authoris greatlyindebtedto Miss D. M. Corbett
of a horn this indicates the direction in which the end correction
may vary. whoperformedmostof the numericalcalculations.

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