Modeling of volume reverberation in the ray approximation

Abstract

We propose a numerical model for the evaluation of the three-dimensional scattering of sound in the sea. The model is based on the construction of ray patterns both for the primary and secondary (scattered) radiation. The intensity of secondary radiation is expressed via the coefficient of backward volume scattering interpreted as the fraction of backward-scattered acoustic energy per unit length of the primary ray. It is shown that, in the first approximation, it suffices to consider the secondary rays repeating the paths of the primary rays in the opposite direction. The attenuation of the intensity of sound along the paths of the primary and secondary rays is taken into account. The results of numerical analysis of the reverberation signal as a function of time are presented for various conditions (different depths of immersion of the antenna and widths of the directional diagram and the presence of sound-scattering layers). The proposed approach can be used for the purposes of modeling of the surface and bottom reverberation and for the solution of the inverse problems of underwater acoustics.