Modeling of bottom backscattering from three-dimensional volume inhomogeneities and comparisons with experimental...

In this paper, backscattering from 3D volume inhomogeneities in the seabed is modeled and the results compared with experimental data at 250-650 Hz. The experiment was part of the Acoustic Reverberation Special Research Program (ARSRP) and the data were obtained in a sediment pond on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A volume scattering model based on first-order perturbation theory is developed incorporating contributions from both sound speed and density fluctuations. With the propagators, i.e., the Green's functions, handled accurately through numerical wave number integration and random fluctuations generated effectively by a new scheme modified from the spectral method, the model is capable of simulating monostatic, backscattered fields in the frequency domain as well as in the time domain owing to 3D volumetric sediment inhomogeneities. The model compares favorably and consistently with the ARSRP backscattering data over the entire frequency band, with the fluctuations of sound speed and density in two irregular sediment layers, identified from the data analysis, described by a power-law type of power spectrum.