The acoustic scattering by a submerged, spherical shell. I: The bifurcation of the dispersion curve for the spherical antisymmetric Lamb wave

The acoustic scattering by thin‐walled, evacuated, elastic spherical shells immersed in water is studied. The analytic structure of the scattering amplitude in the complex‐k plane is directly analyzed using Cauchy’s residue theorem, and dispersion curves are presented for the lowest elastic modes of the fluid‐loaded shell. It is found that fluid loading has a profound effect on the vacuum dynamical characteristics of the shell; the spherical equivalent of the first antisymmetric, flat‐plate Lamb wave for the fluid‐loaded shell bifurcates into two distinct modes near the frequency that the vacuum dispersion curve transitions from a subsonic to a supersonic phase velocity. By way of contrast, the spherical equivalent of the first symmetric Lamb wave is essentially unaffected. The salient features of the free‐field scattering process are also analyzed in terms of the resonance excitation of these modes.