E. L. Borodina

Caustics and weakly divergent beams in oceanic waveguides

It is found that the weakly divergent beam formed around the reference ray with minimal cycle length does not stand out in intensity against the background of the total field. It is shown that, under the same conditions, another beam stands out in intensity: it is the caustic beam composed of the system of caustic lines, which are the envelopes of the family of rays forming the weakly divergent beam.

Azimuthal dependence of reverberation from a harmonic signal propagating in shallow water

The problem of scattering from a rough sea surface is considered for a harmonic low-frequency (200–400 Hz) acoustic signal propagating in a shallow water area. An experimental study of the azimuthal reverberation dependence is carried out on the basis of the bistatic location scheme with the use of linear phased arrays. By comparison with calculations, the formation of the frequency-angular characteristics of reverberation is investigated for various wind directions with respect to the path of acoustic signal propagation.

Estimation of surface roughness effect on spectral characteristics of tone signals propagating along stationary paths in a shallow sea

Scattering of a tonal low-frequency (up to 400 Hz) acoustic signal on a rough surface during its propagation along stationary paths in a shallow water area is considered. A calculation technique of estimating the spectral power density of the signal scattered at wind waves (reverberation) given an arbitrary angular distribution of the wind wave is developed based on the Bragg scattering model. The obtained results are compared with the results of numerical simulation of resonant sound scattering at surface perturbations according to an algorithm proposed by the authors, as well as with the results of experimental investigations.

Characteristics of the reverberation signal at a vertical array with tonal insonification of a shallow-water basin

The angular and spectral characteristics of reverberation signals on a fixed path are studied by using vertical receiving arrays with a tonal insonification of the basin. The choice of the frequency range F ∼ 200–300 Hz is caused, first, by the low propagation loss and the availability of high-power acoustic transducers for this range and, second, by the possibility to study the phenomena of sound scattering by the sea surface for comparable wavelengths of surface and acoustic waves. The data of experiments on two paths are considered: the first path is in the Barents Sea with propagation conditions corresponding to a uniform waveguide with sea depths H ∼ 110–120 m, whereas the second path is in the White Sea with propagation conditions corresponding to a nonuniform waveguide where the sea depth varies from 30 to 250 m.

Formation of a weakly diverging caustic beam in an underwater sound channel open to the bottom

The paper studies the patterns manifesting themselves in the formation and propagation of caustic and weakly diverging beams using the geometric acoustic approximation and mode theory applied to the simplest model of an underwater sound channel open to the bottom in the form of the bilinear dependence of the square of the refractive index on depth. It is established that when a vertical array emitting a tonal sound signal is located at a certain critical depth, the multimode caustic beam which forms near the reference ray horizontally departing from its center and which predominates in intensity is simultaneously the most weakly diverging beam. It is shown that the reference ray of such a weakly diverging caustic beam corresponds to the smoothest minimum for the dependence of the length of the ray cycle on their angle of departure from the center of the array and to the depth level of revolution at the critical depth characteristic of the given oceanic waveguide.

Manifestation of weakly diverging beams of rays in the spatiotemporal structure of the acoustic signal field in oceanic waveguides

It is established that the existence of weakly divergent beams in an oceanic waveguides leads, in a certain time interval and depth range, to the formation of a characteristic triplet structure of wavefronts. It is explained that a weakly diverging beam of rays represents an Airy wave in the spatiotemporal structure of the acoustic signal field in an oceanic waveguide.

Algorithms for converting 3D surface roughness spectra when calculating frequency-angle reverberation characteristics

On the basis of an earlier developed model of sound scattering by surface disturbances characterized by 3D roughness spectra, we propose and test a sufficiently fast algorithm for calculating the spectral power density of surface reverberation that takes into account the propagation conditions, distance, and beam pattern of the receiver system. For a distance of up to 1000 m, a water area depth of ∼20 m, and actually measured 3D roughness spectra in the Doppler frequency range of ±5 Hz, we have calculated the frequency-angle reverberation spectra for an acoustic background-radiation signal of 1.5 kHz. The obtained angle and frequency reverberation characteristics are compared with the results of acoustic measurements conducted using linear horizontal receiver antennas.

Phase conjugation in an acoustic waveguide

A method for holographic observation of sound sources and passive inhomogeneities in acoustic waveguides is proposed. The method is based on the principle of coherent phase conjugation. A possibility of visual observation of both sound sources and stationary inhomogeneities of different kinds is experimentally verified.

Features of the Invariant of the Spatial–Frequency Interference Structure of Acoustic Fields in Oceanic Waveguides

The paper considers the regular patterns that can be manifested in the behavior of the invariant of the spatial–frequency interference structure of an acoustic field in oceanic waveguides that are homogeneous and inhomogeneous along a track. Using the WKB and adiabatic approximations, an analytic expression is obtained for the invariant that, when certain conditions are fulfilled, reduces to the well-known classical expression independent of the mode numbers, their parity, or the emission frequency. It has been established that the approximate classical expression for the invariant correctly describes the slope of interference lines only in ranges of variation in the grazing angles of modes where the dependence of the cycle length of their corresponding Brillouin waves on the ray parameter is quite smooth and monotonic. The paper studies the formation of the spatial–frequency interference structure of an acoustic field propagating from a shallowwater isovelocity waveguide to a relatively deep-water waveguide with a near-surface sound channel.

Effect of the sound velocity stratification in the bottom sediment layer on the diffraction focusing of an acoustic field in a shallow sea

It is shown that an increase in the sound velocity gradient in the bottom sediment layer results in the formation of additional zones of diffraction focusing of the acoustic field generated by a vertical line array in the water layer. It is also established that, depending on the sound velocity step at the upper boundary of the sediment layer, the diffraction focusing of the acoustic field in the main focusing zones can be enhanced or reduced.