title: Pulse-echo method cannot measure wave attenuation accurately.
abstract: A number of techniques with different degrees of accuracies have been devised for the measurement of acoustic wave attenuation in solids and liquids. Still, a wide variation is observed in the attenuation values in different materials reported in the literature. Present numerical study based on a 'propagating wave' model analysis clearly shows that the attenuation constant obtained from exponential fitting of the echo heights in pulse-echo method differs from the exact value of intrinsic attenuation in the medium, even in the ideal situation of plane wave propagation without diffraction, dispersion or scattering.
authors.affiliation: Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700064, India. Electronic address: barnana.pal@saha.ac.in.
authors.forename: Barnana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pal
keywords: Attenuation measurement; Propagating wave model; Pulse-echo technique