Numerical Analysis of Long Range Acoustic Propagation Based on Wide Angle Parabolic Wave Equation

The purpose of this paper is to describe an accurate computational method for underwater acoustic propagation problems based on the wide angle wave equation with the transparent boundary condition. In order to evaluate the present method, we calculate typical examples of a deep underwater propagation model with Munk's sound velocity profile and shallow underwater with the sound profile increasing exponentially from the sea surface to the bottom including the loss in the seabed material. The results are almost the same as the semi-analytical solutions obtained using rays or normal modes. The validity and usefulness of the present method are confirmed.