Model for underwater noise radiated by submerged piles

Abstract

There is concern that underwater noise generated by marine construction activities and radiated by towers supporting offshore wind turbines may disturb marine mammals, or interfere with passive sensors and communication equipment. In order to understand these effects a semi-analytic frequency-domain model was developed previously for the sound radiated in the water column by a pulsating cylindrical structure embedded in horizontally stratified layers of viscoelastic sediment. This model was in turn coupled to a parabolic equation code for long-range propagation over range-dependent environments [Hay et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133, 3396 (2013)]. A time-domain version of this model is now presented which enables simulation of impulsive sound sources such as those due to underwater pile driving, and pulsed tonal sources appropriate for use in a finite-sized laboratory tank. In order to validate the model a scaled physical model, consisting of a laboratory tank and metallic cylindrical tube driven in the high kilohertz frequency range, was constructed. Simulations will be presented for a variety of sound sources, and preliminary comparisons with measurements from the scaled model experiments will be made.