A hybrid numerical approach to quantify directivity patterns using phaseless hydroacoustic data

Abstract

[Abstract]: Hydroacoustic transducers have been used profusely in monitoring activities in coastal and oceanic marine environments for fishery purposes and the health evaluation of the seabed and its related biological ecosystems. Accurately predicting its directivity patterns plays a crucial role in the subsequent numerical simulations of complex marine environments. The transducers can be quickly characterized experimentally using in-house laboratory equipment where their acoustic response can be obtained from time-harmonic near-field phaseless data. Obviously, the extrapolation of those near-field data to predict the time-harmonic far-field generated pressure cannot be computed straightforwardly and requires estimating the directivity pattern associated with the transducer. A hybrid approach based on the combination of data-driven reconstruction techniques and an integral representation of the pressure field is analyzed in this work. The accuracy of the proposed methodology is illustrated in realistic scenarios with available closed-form solutions such as omnidirectional sources and end-fire arrays. The impact of using different phase retrieval and quadrature methods is also quantified numerically.