A model for acoustic backscatter from trapped bubbles in sandy sediments was developed. The model combines a Biot acoustic penetration model with a resonance scattering mechanism from trapped bubbles. The bubble size distribution is assumed to mirror the size distribution of the fluid pores that exist between sand grains. An estimate of the pore size distribution is constructed from the grain size distribution, based on the known pore structure between dense random packings of hard spheres. The principle of acoustic reciprocity is employed to compute backscattered acoustic pressure in terms of the incident pressure and the scattering cross section of a bubble distribution. The model is applied to data from experiments recently taken at sea. It is concluded that trapped gas is often a likely cause of observed backscatter from sandy sediments. Very small amounts of gas appear to be sufficient to produce significant backscatter.
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Boyle et al. (1995) studied this question.