Analysis on Sound Field Recorded with Vector Sensors

Abstract

From data collected with vector sensors at several sites, the transmission losses of particle velocities and pressures are examined. In particular, the components of the particle velocity fields both normal and tangential to the horizontal plane are studied. Theoretical and experimental results show that both vertical and horizontal particle velocities can be regarded as the summation of normal modes. The lower modes dominate for the horizontal particle velocity, while higher modes are relatively important for the vertical particle velocity. The intensity of the vertical velocity decreases faster than that of the horizontal particle velocity. The experimental results also show that the same modes of the horizontal and vertical particle velocity have similar losses, but different amplitudes and phases. Theoretical analyses indicate that the difference of the mode amplitudes between horizontal particle velocity and vertical particle velocity depends on the eigenvalue and receiver depths, which can provide information on the estimation of bottom parameters. A geo‐inversion scheme by the matched‐field processing with a vector array is developed. The theoretical and experimental results indicate that the proposed inversion method can decrease the uncertainty of inversion in comparison with that by hydrophone arrays.