title: Effective Gol'dberg number for diverging waves.
abstract: An effective Gol'dberg number is proposed for determining the degree of nonlinear distortion achieved in a diverging wave field. For values that are large compared with unity, the degree of nonlinear waveform distortion is virtually the same as that for a plane wave characterized by the traditional Gol'dberg number having the same numerical value. Expressions for the effective Gol'dberg number are proposed for spherical and cylindrical waves, Gaussian beams, and exponential horns.
authors.affiliation: Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713-8029, USA.
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hamilton