Experimental Study on Underwater Transient Noise Generated by Water-Entry Impact

Abstract

To study the water-entry impact noise, on-board experiment using a small launcher firing various objects was performed in the Yellow Sea. As the launcher fires a cylindrical object from the ship vertically, generated noise is measured with a hydrophone on the starboard of Chung-hae, Marine surveyor. Three types of cylindrical objects, which have noses of flat-faced, conical, and hemisphere, were used during the experiment. The measured noise exhibits a time-dependency which can be divided into three phases: (1) initial impact phase, (2) open cavity flow phase, (3) cavity collapse and bubble oscillation phase. In most cases, the waveform of bubble oscillation phase is dominant rather than that of initial impact phase. Pinch-off time, where a cavity begins to collapse, occurs at 0.18 ~ 0.2 second and the average lasting time of bubble was 0.9 ~ 1.3 second. The energy of water-entry impact noise is focused in the frequency region lower than 100 Hz, and the generated noise is influenced by the nose shapes, object mass, and launching velocity. As a result, energy spectral density on the bubble frequency is higher in the order of flat-faced, conical, hemisphere nose, and the increase of initial energy raises the energy spectral density on the bubble frequency in the cylinder body of same shape. Finally, we compare the measurements with the simulated signals and spectrum based on the bubble explosion physics, and obtain satisfactory agreements between them.