Signal pressure received by a hydrophone placed on a plate backed with a compliant baffle

Abstract

A theoretical model was developed to evaluate the signal pressure received by a hydrophone placed in front of a plate backed with a compliant baffle layer. The compliant baffle layer between the plate and the semi-infinite fluid medium is designed for reducing pressure fluctuations from Papers nonsignal directions. Because of its acoustic softness, the signal received by the hydrophone without a plate would be degraded. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the signal reception by covering the baffle layer with a hard plate. The baffle layer considered here is the compliant-tube array, modeled by Junger [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 78, 1010 (1985)], to represent a homogeneous (dispersive) fluid layer. Effects of various parameters such as the angle of incidence, the aspect ratio of the compliant tube, the distance between tubes, and the damping of the tube on the received signal pressure are presented. Calculations made for the nondispersive fluid layer are compared with those made for the dispersive fluid layer.