A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss

© 1976-2012 IEEE. The accurate modeling of underwater acoustical reflection from a wind-roughened ocean surface is a challenging problem. Some complicating factors are the presence of near-surface bubbles and the potential for shadowing of acoustical energy by parts of the surface itself. One essent...

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Main Authors: Jones, A., Duncan, Alec, Maggi, Amos, Bartel, D., Zinoviev, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28567
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author Jones, A.
Duncan, Alec
Maggi, Amos
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
author_facet Jones, A.
Duncan, Alec
Maggi, Amos
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
author_sort Jones, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 1976-2012 IEEE. The accurate modeling of underwater acoustical reflection from a wind-roughened ocean surface is a challenging problem. Some complicating factors are the presence of near-surface bubbles and the potential for shadowing of acoustical energy by parts of the surface itself. One essential factor, which is the subject of this paper, is the specular reflection of coherent plane waves at an ocean-like rough surface. We tested the accuracy of one rough surface reflection model, the small-slope approximation (SSA) approach as used by Williams (J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 116, no. 4, pp. 1975-1984, Oct. 2004), for scenarios for which scattering was entirely in the vertical plane. The SSA model was used to compute values of the coherent plane wave reflection loss per bounce for wind speeds between 5 and 12.5 m/s, frequencies between 1.5 and 9 kHz, and grazing angles between about 1$\circ and 10$\circ. These values were compared to those obtained from a Monte Carlo approach based on the parabolic equation (PE) method, where realistic ocean surfaces were generated based on the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum for ocean surface heights. The SSA model compared favorably with the more rigorous PE method for most of the range of parameters considered. An approximation to the SSA model was derived for application to grazing angles less than particular values, and this approximation was shown to compare well with results from PE modeling.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-285672017-09-13T15:22:17Z A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss Jones, A. Duncan, Alec Maggi, Amos Bartel, D. Zinoviev, A. © 1976-2012 IEEE. The accurate modeling of underwater acoustical reflection from a wind-roughened ocean surface is a challenging problem. Some complicating factors are the presence of near-surface bubbles and the potential for shadowing of acoustical energy by parts of the surface itself. One essential factor, which is the subject of this paper, is the specular reflection of coherent plane waves at an ocean-like rough surface. We tested the accuracy of one rough surface reflection model, the small-slope approximation (SSA) approach as used by Williams (J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 116, no. 4, pp. 1975-1984, Oct. 2004), for scenarios for which scattering was entirely in the vertical plane. The SSA model was used to compute values of the coherent plane wave reflection loss per bounce for wind speeds between 5 and 12.5 m/s, frequencies between 1.5 and 9 kHz, and grazing angles between about 1$\circ and 10$\circ. These values were compared to those obtained from a Monte Carlo approach based on the parabolic equation (PE) method, where realistic ocean surfaces were generated based on the Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum for ocean surface heights. The SSA model compared favorably with the more rigorous PE method for most of the range of parameters considered. An approximation to the SSA model was derived for application to grazing angles less than particular values, and this approximation was shown to compare well with results from PE modeling. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28567 10.1109/JOE.2015.2464551 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers restricted
spellingShingle Jones, A.
Duncan, Alec
Maggi, Amos
Bartel, D.
Zinoviev, A.
A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title_full A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title_fullStr A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title_full_unstemmed A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title_short A Detailed Comparison between a Small-Slope Model of Acoustical Scattering from a Rough Sea Surface and Stochastic Modeling of the Coherent Surface Loss
title_sort detailed comparison between a small-slope model of acoustical scattering from a rough sea surface and stochastic modeling of the coherent surface loss
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28567