Constructing a Bessel Function from a vibrating surface of water

[Erenle]

Hey everyone, I'm currently working on a project to construct the Bessel function of a vibrating surface of water in a cylindrical tank. My basic idea is to have a way of observing a point on the surface of water and obtain distance vs time data to that point (which will rise and fall with wave crests and troughs) for a specific ρ and Θ in cylindrical coordinates. All I have on hand with me are a few sound sensors, but these would probably give very inconsistent data as I can't be sure how large of an area they're measuring on the surface of the water. So I was thinking of purchasing a distance measuring device that utilizes a laser, as it would give me much more precise data. I was curious if anyone had knowledge of where I could get some kind of laser sensor. I was also curious in the long run if it could be possible to construct the waveform of the signal vibrating the water after obtaining the Bessel function, because that could have interesting applications.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Lots of people have performed this type of measurement, I am most familiar with Seth Putterman's work:

http://www.me.ucsb.edu/~ceweb/faculty/pine/papers_pdf/1997fPuttrScience.pdf