Acoustic Pulse Diffraction by a Sphere in a Planar Layered Waveguide with a Gradient Layer

Consideration of the vertical sound velocity profile is highly important for solving problems of sound propagation in waveguides and scattering problems. A pulsed echo signal reflected from a spherical scatterer in a waveguide is modeled for the case of a waveguide characterized by sound velocity increasing with depth. The simplest model of the medium is considered in which the scatterer, the source, and the receiver are positioned in a layer with constant sound velocity. Below this layer, the sound velocity increases with depth so that the square of refractive index varies according to linear law. The scattering coefficients for the sphere are calculated using the normal wave method. The number of normal waves forming the echo signal is determined by the preset directionality of the source. Modeling is performed in a frequency band of 70−90 kHz for distances between the scatterer and the transmitter-receiver within 500−1000 m. The transmitted signal has the form of a pulse with cosine envelope and central frequency of 80 kHz.