Benchmark solutions for sound propagation in an ideal wedge

Sound propagation in a wedge-shaped waveguide with perfectly reflecting boundaries is one of the few range- dependent problems with an analytical solution, and hence provides an ideal benchmark for a full two-way solution to the wave equation. An analytical solution for the sound propagation in an ideal wedge with a pressure-release bottom was presented by Buckingham and Tolstoy [Buckingham and Tolstoy 1990 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87 1511]. The ideal wedge problem with a rigid bottom is also of great importance in underwater acoustics. We present an analytical solution to the ideal wedge problem with a perfectly reflecting bottom, either rigid or pressure-release, which may be used to provide a means for investigating the sound field in depth-varying channels, and to establish the accuracy of numerical propagation models. Closed-form expressions for coupling matrices are also provided for the ideal waveguides characterized by a ho- mogeneous water column bounded by perfectly reflecting boundaries. A comparison between the analytical solution and the numerical solution recently proposed by Luo et al. [Luo W Y, Yang C M and Zhang R H 2012 Chin. Phys. Lett. 29 014302] is also presented, through which the accuracy of this numerical model is illustrated.

Exact solution of three-dimensional acoustic field in a wedge with perfectly reflecting boundaries

An exact approach is presented to compute the three-dimensional(3D) acoustic field in a homogeneous wedge-shaped ocean with perfectly reflecting boundaries. This approach applies the Fourier synthesis technique, which reduces a 3D point-source ideal wedge problem into a sequence of two-dimensional(2D) line-source ideal wedge problems, whose analytical solution is well established. A comparison of numerical efficiency is provided between this solution and the solution proposed by Buckingham,which is obtained by a sequence of integral transforms. The details of numerical implementation of these two solutions are also given. To validate the present approach and at the same time compare numerical efficiency between this approach and Buckingham's analytical solution, two numerical examples are considered. One is the Acoustical Society of America(ASA) benchmark wedge problem and the other is a wide-angle wedge problem. Numerical results indicate that the present approach is efficient and capable of providing accurate 3D acoustic field results for arbitrary receiver locations, and hence can serve as a benchmark model for sound propagation in a homogeneous wedge-shaped ocean.