High-Frequency Underwater Acoustic Propagation in a Port Modeled as a Three-Dimensional Duct Closed at One End Using the Method of Images.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Acoustics and Vibration Volume 2012, Article ID 929174, 15 pages doi:10.1155/2012/929174 Research Article High-Frequency Underwater Acoustic Propagation in a Port Modeled as a Three-Dimensional Duct Closed at One End Using the Method of Images Pierre-Philippe J. Beaujean and Matthew D. Staska Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, SeaTech, Florida Atlantic University, 101 North Beach Road, Dania Beach, FL 33004, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Pierre-Philippe J. Beaujean, pbeaujea@ Received 15 February 2012; Accepted 4 April 2012 Academic Editor: Jafar Saniie Copyright © 2012 Pierre-P.J. Beaujean and M. D. Staska. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A computer-efficient model for underwater acoustic propagation in a shallow, three-dimensional rectangular duct closed at one end has been developed using the method of images. The duct simulates a turning basin located in a port, surrounded with concrete walls, and filled with sea water. The channel bottom is composed of silt. The modeled impulse response is compared with the impulse response measured between 15 kHz and 33 kHz. Despite small sensor-position inaccuracies and an approximated duct geometry, the impulse response can be modeled with a relative echo magnitude error of 1.62 dB at worst and a relative echo location error varying between 0% and 4% when averaged across multiple measurements and sensor locations. This is a sufficient level of accuracy for the simulation of an acoustic communication system operating in the same frequency band and in shallow waters, as time flu