Characterization of suspensions of particles in water by an ultrasonic resonant cell

This paper presents a resonant technique to accurately measure phase-velocity and attenuation of longitudinal acoustic waves in suspensions of solid particles in water. The technique is based on exciting thickness resonances of a layer of fluid and analyzing its spectrum. To this end, a resonant cell to contain the fluid is described and used. Two different type of water suspensions are studied: titanium dioxide and alumina particles; particle volume fraction is in the range 0-0.18. Simultaneous determination of particle size distribution in the suspension by an optical method are also carried out. Finally, the experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions obtained from three different approaches. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.