Acoustic scatter from a submerged target in a waveguide

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2005-09, Vol.118 (3_Supplement), p.1866-1866
• Main Authors: Cuschieri, Joseph M., Charmes, Emmanuel, Beaujean, Pierre-Phillip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4779055

In very shallow water or bounded acoustic medium (waveguide), the acoustic scattering from a target located in the waveguide is influenced by the presence of the boundaries. This is due to the multiple reflections occurring between the target and the waveguide boundaries. In this paper, the influence of boundaries on the acoustic scattering from a rigid sphere is investigated. A superposition method with equivalent point sources located inside the surface of the target and calibrated by satisfying the boundary conditions on the surface of the target is used to model the problem. The target is insonified by an equivalent plane acoustic wave traveling parallel to the waveguide boundaries. The presence of the boundaries breaks the symmetry in the scattering patterns and influences the scattering strength of the target. At particular frequencies or scatterer depths, a significant change in the magnitude and spatial distribution of the scattered field occur due to strong coupling between the target and the boundary. It is concluded that the scattering in VSW can be significantly different from that of the same target in an unbounded medium.