Studies into the detection of buried objects (particularly optical fibres) in saturated sediment. Part 3: experimental investigation of acoustic penetration of saturated sediment

Abstract

This report is the third in a series of five, designed to investigate the detection of
targets buried in saturated sediment, primarily through acoustical or acoustics-related
methods. Although steel targets are included for comparison, the major interest is in
targets (polyethylene cylinders and optical fibres) which have a poor acoustic
impedance mismatch with the host sediment. This particular report provides a brief
historical overview of sediment propagation models has been presented. Two theories
have been covered: the Biot-Stoll theory; and wave scattering from random rough
surfaces. The debate surrounding the observations of, so-called, anomalous acoustic
penetration has also been discussed.
This series of reports is written in support of the article “The detection by sonar of
difficult targets (including centimetre-scale plastic objects and optical fibres) buried
in saturated sediment” by T G Leighton and R C P Evans, written for a Special Issue
of Applied Acoustics which contains articles on the topic of the detection of objects
buried in marine sediment. Further support material can be found at
http://www.isvr.soton.ac.uk/FDAG/uaua/target_in_sand.HTM.

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Identifiers

ORCID for T.G. Leighton: orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-8750

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