Experimental Estimation of the Emission Directivity of a Moving Surface Vessel in Shallow Water

The possibility of constructing an acoustic model of a surface ship’s noise emission in the far field using monopole-type emitters uniformly distributed along the hull is investigated. Experimental data obtained in shallow water are used to calculate the characteristics of equivalent monopole emission sources that form a total sound field similar to the sound field from a moving surface ship. The powers of each monopole and the cross-correlations between them are calculated. For the selected discrete components and linear model of an extended source, the directivity patterns are constructed, reduced to the free space. In the experiments and calculations, technical tools and algorithms were used that ensure high-precision positioning of the vessel with respect to the receiving elements of the array. An equivalent model of the waveguide transfer function in the operations area was preliminarily obtained by acoustic waveguide calibration using specially developed equipment, experimental techniques, and processing algorithms. This made it possible to use adequate seafloor models and the waveguide transfer function when calculating the equivalent sound field and directivity pattern. Good agreement is shown between the calculated and experimental data, both of the directivity pattern and field distribution along the transit characteristics. Practical recommendations are given for developing methods to measure the noise fields of surface vessels.