Analysis of Hydrodynamic Noise around Acoustic Modem on the AUV Using Hybrid LES-Lighthill Method

Abstract

Acoustic modem is one of the most important sensors on the deep sea AUV. A good performance of the acoustic modem has great effect on the safety and operation of deep sea AUV. According to the construction of deep sea AUV, acoustic modem is installed in the cavity behind the GPS antenna, it would cause flow noise around the acoustic modem and thus interference will occur when the communication is established between deep sea AUV and surface. Flow-induced noise around the acoustic modem is studied in this paper. Firstly the unsteady flow around the acoustic modem is studied by large eddy simulation (LES) method. Secondly based on the resolved information of flow field, acoustic noise distribution is studied using equivalent acoustic sources method. Compared with different positions of GPS antenna, flow noise distribution around the acoustic modem and the effect on communication is investigated. Then acoustic modem layout on the AUV is optimized.