Propeller Cavitation Effects on Broadband Vessel-Radiated Acoustic Spectra.

Abstract

To gain an understanding of ambient noise in the oceans today, the characteristics of merchant vessel acoustic spectra must be determined. Presently, it is believed that the major source of acoustic intensity emanating from a merchant is propeller noise. Data was gathered from a stationary vessel whose propellers were cavitating to determine exactly how much of the far field spectrum was propeller dominated. Considerations such as propagation delay and multi-path effects had to be dealt with prior to the processing procedure. Digital signal processing techniques along with the coherence function were applied to the gathered data. The resulting coherence values for frequencies of interest to Navy sonar systems (0-500 Hz) were studied and compared to the corresponding signal-to-noise level in the far field spectrum. The coherence accurately displays that, contrary to present belief, propeller cavitation is not the dominant source of merchant vessel acoustic power in the far field over the entire frequency band of interest.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 20, 1983
Accession Number
ADA134233

Entities

People

  • Daniel N. Dixon

Organizations

  • United States Naval Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustics
  • Ambient Noise
  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Far Field
  • Flow Noise
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Merchant Vessels
  • Near Field
  • Power Spectra
  • Propeller Noise
  • Shallow Water
  • Signal Processing
  • Spectrum Analyzers
  • Underwater Acoustics
  • United States Naval Academy

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Marine Hydrodynamics
  • Radar Systems Engineering.