Synchronization of a standing wave thermoacoustic prime-mover by an external sound source

Guillaume Penelet (1) , Tetsushi Biwa

1 LAUM - Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Université du Mans

Since the early observations made by Christiaan Huygens in his experiments with two pendulum clocks placed on a common support, synchronization phenomena have been extensively studied in the field of nonlinear science. Examples of synchronization phenomena are abundant in many fields of science, from mechanical or electrical engineering to chemistry or living systems, provided that a self- sustained oscillator may be driven by an external force or another oscillator. In this study, we investigated the effect of synchronization of a very simple standing wave thermoacoustic oscillator, when it is driven by an external sound source, i.e. a loudspeaker. Experiments are performed by controlling both frequency detuning and driving amplitude in order to draw the Arnold tongues associated to this particular device. The transition from the synchronized to the quasi-periodic regime is also studied, and different kinds of bifurcation are observed depending on the driving amplitude. In our opinion, the experiments performed in this study are of interest for teachers, because they exhibit universal concepts in a particular device which is both very demonstrative and easy to reproduce with minimum equipment.

Mots clés: thermoacoustics; nonlinear acoustics

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Guillaume Penelet, Tetsushi Biwa. Synchronization of a standing wave thermoacoustic prime-mover by an external sound source. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00810883⟩