Physical Acoustics Group

About the group

As a special interest, member-driven group, we are interested in physical acoustics and ultrasonics.

Fundamental aspects of acoustic wave propagation and the interaction of acoustic waves with matter are important in fields as diverse as phonon physics and seismology.

Ultrasonic wave generation, propagation and attenuation provide compositional and structural information in:

• gases
• liquids
• solids

There is increasing interest in ultrasonic wave scattering in inhomogeneous materials varying from sea-bed sediments and modern (composite) materials, through to foodstuffs and biological tissues. This provides the basic physics of ultrasonic testing and imaging.

We are also interested in wave propagation in complex media in biomedical ultrasound for applications such as focused ultrasound surgery and drug delivery, where nonlinear effects can be important.

Other imaging, monitoring and inspection techniques include:

• photo-acoustics
• acoustic emission
• acoustical microscopy

Crucial to the exploitation of these methods in a quantitative scientific manner is the successful development of devices which generate and detect acoustic waves.

Equally important is the successful implementation of validated computational models to describe physical acoustics phenomena. High-performance computing platforms are increasingly being used to solve large-scale 3D problems.

What the group does

We promote physical acoustics and ultrasonics and their contribution to fundamental science and its applications.

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Group physics prize

Bob Chivers Prize in Physical Acoustics

This annual prize promotes research in physical acoustics by recognising the best paper by a PhD student at a UK university.

Find out more about the Bob Chivers Prize in Physical Acoustics

Group events

Find events for the Physical Acoustics Group

We organise two main events per year:

We also organise or co-sponsor meetings on subjects that have included:

• ultrasonic studies of bone;
• acoustic microscopy;
• acoustic trapping of nanoparticles; and
• the contactless generation and detection of ultrasound.

We focus on discussions between theoreticians and experimentalists from a wide range of institutions with a particular interest in improving the scientific basis of technological developments.

Committee and contacts

• Email: [email protected]