Transducer models for simulating detection processes for underwater mining

Abstract

Numerical simulations on propagating and scattering processes of sound waves in water and sediment may be useful for designing a detection system for underwater mining. Here a transducer model is developed for the numerical simulation to implement radiating and receiving processes of transducers into numerical calculations. Since the Rayleigh integral approach is adopted for acoustic radiation, the accurate velocity profiles over the radiating surfaces of a transducer array should be estimated considering the mechano-acoustic interactions including the dynamics of unit drivers and the acoustic radiation loadings on the radiation surfaces. We adopted the approach that the surface velocity is calculated using the transducer model with the acoustic loading while the loading effects are estimated via calculating the radiation impedance of transducer array using Rayleigh integrals. The estimated velocity profile of the transducer surface is used for calculating the accurate sound fields generated by the transducer array. A similar approach will be adopted for estimating receiving characteristics. [The Authors gratefully acknowledge the support from UTRC(Unmanned technology Research Center) at KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), originally funded by DAPA, ADD in the Republic of Korea.]