A Mathematical Model for the Acoustic and Seismic Properties of the Landmine Detection Problem

Abstract

Acoustic landmine detection is accomplished by using a loud speaker to generate airborne source low-frequency waves that are transmitted to the soil above a buried landmine target. At a specific frequency, the landmine will "vibrate" at resonance, imparting an enhanced velocity on the soil particles above it at the surface that is detected by a scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer system. If the soil surface velocity profiles measured from these experiments could be predicted mathematically under a variety of conditions, the physical system would be able to accurately detect landmines in more challenging environments. The mathematical modeling of the buried landmine detection problem involved wave propagation in a layered waveguide in the presence and absence of a buried circular target. In this study, emphasis was placed on acoustic to seismic coupling of an airborne continuous wave point source into the soil. Soil resonances were calculated with a model that represents the soil as a finite, fluid-filled rigid porous layer below a finite atmospheric layer. This two-layer waveguide incorporated density and sound speed in both the soil and atmosphere, which was adjusted based on soil type, compactness, and moisture content in both the air and soil. An analytic solution of the two-layer waveguide problem involved solving the Helmholtz equation in cylindrical coordinates in both layers along with using a delta function point source to simulate a compact loudspeaker in the upper layer. Boundary conditions along with conditions of orthogonality were used to obtain complicated analytical expressions for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the problem. A MATLAB(Trademark) program was used to numerically solve for the eigenvalues and plot solutions of pressure and particle velocity vs. frequency and spatial variables.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 06, 2008
Accession Number
ADA486758

Entities

People

  • Michelle B. Mattingly

Organizations

  • United States Naval Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Counter IED
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Propagation
  • Acoustic Waves
  • Acoustics
  • Computational Science
  • Detection
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Frequency
  • Geometry
  • Helmholtz Equations
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Mathematical Models
  • Numerical Analysis
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Resonant Frequency
  • United States Naval Academy
  • User Interface

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy