Directionality of Scale-model Volcano Acoustics

Volcanic eruptions, and the ash they produce, have the potential to cause problems to air travel as well as to the environment in general. The purpose of this study is to discover the directionality of the infrasound of volcanoes in order to estimate the power of a volcano and the quantity and ash content of the debri. We used scale-model explosions to measure acoustic levels, sound power and directivity. Our goal is to estimate the directionality of these explosions when measurements were not concentric with the origin of the explosion. Balloons filled with a stoichiometric mixture of oxy acetylene when exploded produced acoustic shock waves. We used a high-fidelity data acquisition system and research-grade microphone arrays. We used four circular microphone arrays centered on the four blast locations. Then we took measurements using a single semi-circle setup for the four blasts locations. The goal is to connect the two measurements and determine how to interpret the directivity from data collected from the semicircle setup. This study of acoustic scale-model explosions will help us interpret volcano infrasound.