Modeling of scattering by objects on the seabed

This paper describes some of the theory and implementation issues of modeling the backscattered energy from cylindrical or spherical objects lying on the seabed. The model utilizes a single-scatter approximation; this approximation is compared to full multiple scattering solutions to verify its accuracy. The effects of various parameters such as grazing angle of the incident energy, receiver/scatterer geometry, and the bottom half-space geoacoustic parameters are investigated numerically. The paper is concluded with a comparison of modeled time series with experimental scattering data obtained for a steel-shelled cylinder and a solid aluminum sphere lying on a sandy seabed.