Page 72 - 48Fundamentals of Compressible Fluid Mechanics

34 CHAPTER 3. SPEED OF SOUND
Remark reference Value [m/sec]
Fresh Water (20
C) Cutnell, John D. & Kenneth W. 1492
Johnson. Physics. New York:
Wiley, 1997: 468.
Distilled Water at (25
C) The World Book Encyclopedia. 1496
Chicago: World Book, 1999. 601
Water distilled Handbook of Chemistry and 1494
Physics. Ohio: Chemical Rubber
Co., 1967-1968: E37

Table 3.1: Water speed of sound from different sources

is a function tempera-
is a correction

where
is about clean/pure water,
factor between coupling of the different parameters.

ture, and is a function salinity,
is a function pressure, and
material reference Value [m/sec]
Glycerol 1904
Sea water 25
C 1533
Mercury 1450
Kerosene 1324
Methyl alcohol 1143
Carbon tetrachloride 926
Table 3.2: Liquids speed of sound, after Aldred, John, Manual of Sound Recording, London:
Fountain Press, 1972

In summary, the speed of sound in liquids is about 3 to 5 relative to the
speed of sound in gases.

3.6 Speed of Sound in Solids

The situation with solids is considerably more complicated, with different speeds
in different directions, in different kinds of geometries, and differences between
transverse and longitudinal waves. Nevertheless, the speed of sound in solids is
larger than in liquids and definitely larger than in gases.
Young’s Modulus for a representative value for the bulk modulus for steel
.
Speed of sound in solid of steel, using a general tabulated value for the
N /
bulk modulus, gives a sound speed for structural steel of
is 160