High-Frequency Bistatic Scattering from a Corrugated Sediment Surface

Abstract

High-frequency bistatic scattering measurements from a corrugated surface were made in an acoustic water tank. First the azimuthal scattering pattern was measured from an artificially corrugated surface which has varying impedance. The corrugated surface was installed both transverse to the direction of incident wave and longitudinal to the direction of incident wave. The angle between the corrugated surface and the direction of the incident wave was about 45∘. Second, the scattering strengths were measured from the flat sediment and the corrugated sediment. A critical angle of about 37∘ was calculated in the acoustic water tank. The measurements were made at three fixed grazing angles: 33∘ (lower than critical angle), 37∘ (critical angle), and 41∘ (higher than critical angle). The scattering angle and the grazing angle are equal in each measurement. Frequencies were from 50 kHz to 100 kHz with an increment of 1 kHz. The corrugated sediment was made transverse to the direction of the incident wave. The first measurement indicates that the scattering patterns depend on the relations between the corrugated surface and the direction of the incident wave. In the second measurement, the data measured from the flat sediment were compared to the APL-UW model and to the NRL model. The NRL model's output shows more favorable comparisons than the APL-UW model. In case of the corrugated sediment, the model and the measured data are different because the models used an isotropic wave spectrum of sediment roughness in the scattering calculations. The isotropic wave spectrum consists of w2 and γ2. These constants derived from sediment names or bulk size. The model which used the constants didn't consider the effect of a corrugated surface. In order to consider a corrugated surface, the constants were varied in the APL-UW model.