Hydrophone Acoustic Receiver Modeling: Turbulent Flow Modeling and Acoustic Analysis

D. Groulx[1], A. Bharath[1], S. Campbell[1]
[1]Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Published in 2014

The field of underwater acoustics research is constantly growing with the ongoing improvement of acoustic measuring techniques. An acoustic hydrophone receiver is a passive listening device which is widely used in biological research and sonar technology. The hydrophone however suffers from turbulence generated noise created by its presence in ever faster flow. This work aims to analyze the pressure variations on a hydrophone receiver in flows with Reynolds numbers < 30,000 and quantify the acoustic power generated in the turbulent wake of the hydrophone using COMSOL Multiphysics® Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) fluid modeling physics.