Acoustic particle acceleration sensors

A crossed dipole array provides a directional receiving capability in a relatively small sensor package and is therefore very attractive for many applications in acoustics. Particle velocity measurements on two axes perpendicular to each other are required to provide the dipole signals. These can be obtained directly using particle velocity sensors or via simple transfer functions using acceleration and displacement sensors. Also, the derivative of the acoustic pressure with respect to space provides a signal proportional to the particle acceleration and gives rise to the pressure gradient sensor. Each of these sensors has strengths and drawbacks depending on the frequency regime of interest, the noise background, and whether a point or a line configuration of dipole sensors is desired. In this paper, the performance of acceleration sensors is addressed using a sensor concept developed at DREA. These sensors exploit bending stresses in a cantilever beam of piezoelectric material to obtain wide bandwidth and high sensitivity. Models which predict the acceleration sensitivity, pressure sensitivity, and natural frequency for this type of sensor are described. Experimental results obtained using several different versions of these sensors are presented and compared with theory. The predicted performance of acceleration sensors are compared with that of pressure gradient arrays and particle velocity sensors.