Panel measurement method for the determination of scattering coefficients and edge diffraction in an open water tank

Material effective properties of composite media or their acoustic performance are often required to be experimentally determined or verified. For underwater applications, systems can be characterized in an open water tank in which a conventional measurement configuration consists of the panel, an acoustic source, and two hydrophones, one on either side of the panel. However, panel measurements may be greatly complicated by waves diffracted by the panel edges. The three-point method is a technique that decomposes total pressure into contributions of the incident, reflected, transmitted, and edge-diffracted pressures. These contributions are determined using measurements at three positions. Reflection and transmission coefficients can then be obtained by removing the contribution of the edge-diffracted waves. The three-point method is applied to an aluminum reference panel for which the experimental scattering coefficients are in very good agreement with those of an infinite panel. The validity limits of the method are also studied. Finally, a pressure mapping shows that the three-point method leads to an accurate determination of the reflection and transmission coefficients for different positions despite strong variations of the edge-diffracted pressure.