Seismo-acoustic ray model benchmarking against experimental tank data

O.C. Rodriguez1,2, orodrig@ualg.pt
J. M. Collis
H. J. Simpson
E. Ey1, emanuel.ey@gmail.com
J. Schneiderwind 1, jdschneiderwind@gmail.com
P. Felisberto1,2, pfelis@ualg.pt
E. Ey1, emanuel.ey@gmail.com
1LARSyS, IST, Lisbon
2University of Algarve
Campus de Gambelas, PT-8005-139 Faro, Portugal

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Ref.: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132, No.2, pp.709-717, August 2012.

Abstract:
Acoustic predictions of the recently developed TRACEO ray model, which accounts for bottom shear properties, are benchmarked against tank experimental data from the EPEE-1 and EPEE-2 experiments. Both experiments are representative of signal propagation in a Pekeris-like shallow-water waveguide over a non-flat isotropic elastic bottom, where significant interaction of the signal with the bottom can be expected. The benchmarks show, in particular, that the ray model can be as accurate as a parabolic approximation model benchmarked in similar conditions. The results of benchmarking are important, on one side, as a preliminary experimental validation of the model and, on the other side, demonstrates the reliability of the ray approach for seismo-acoustic applications.