Wave Problem

JPBenowitz

Suppose I have a cylinder on a fulcrum that is filled half way with a fluid, how would I model the waves in the cylinder if it were put in motion?

chiro

Hey JPBenowitz.

I don't know much about this, but wouldn't you supply boundary conditions for the edge of the cylinder and also the fulcrum to get the behaviour?

Also with regards to infinitesimal mechanics, if you can make the constraints holonomic then you can deal with the theory that utilizes these constraints.

JPBenowitz

I talked to a professor in computational fluid mechanics and he said the wave function is essentially destroyed when it hits the boundary then I talked to a physics professor and he said the wave is simply reflected in the cylinders reference frame so I really don't know where to begin.

chiro

I think its going to depend on the material as well and this depends on how the material absorbs the wave and whether it absorbs it completely or reflects it.

If the medium absorbs the wave then you have one set of conditions and if it reflects it, then you have another set of conditions.

Do you know about the material properties of the cylinder?

JPBenowitz

The material is a metal so it reflects the wave. Although the wave cannot be perfectly reflected because the cylinder is in motion about the fulcrum.