STABLE SOUND WAVE GENERATION IN WEAKLY IONIZED AIR MEDIUM.

Results of experimental and theoretical research of the laboratory prototype of "diaphragmless" non-thermal electroacoustic transducer of original design, working as a broadband acoustic monopole are discussed. Radiation patterns of acoustic emission, current-voltage characteristic of corona discharge at the given electrode geometry were investigated, based on which a theoretical scheme for calculating the acoustic emission power depending on the magnitude of the potential difference between the electrodes was built. The calculation of the basic characteristics of the loudspeaker was performed within the quasi-stationary approximation using a standard three-component hydrodynamic model of weakly ionized gas, supplemented by the equations of chemical kinetics. It is shown that the sound generation process is a scalar effect, arising due to the gas ionization degree modulation. The theoretical model, developed in the paper is the basis for a detailed simulation of sound generation processes, and possible improvement of the proposed design of so-called "ionic loudspeaker". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]