ACOUSTICS OF CAVITIES - MODELS AND APPLICATIONS

The purpose of this paper is to present the main developments in the theory of the acoustics of dissipative fluids at rest in bounded spaces (principally cavities of different sizes and shapes ), from the early beginnings ( in the 1850' s ) until now, including a brief indication of possible approaches for future developments. Several applications of interest, and current research concerned with miniaturisation, are presented, with emphasis being given to the work done on the acoustic gyrometer and on its potential to be miniaturized, which include the miniaturization of acoustical transducers (on silicon chips).