Influence of the presence of an elastic shell in shallow water: Theoretical and experimental study

Detection of targets in shallow water is studied in Underwater Acoustics. T hat is the reason why the expression of the acoustic pressure scattered by a shell immersed in a waveguide is developed in this paper. The expression of the acoustic pressure in a water layer containing a target is determined by using Green's theorem. As the expression of the acoustic field in the w ater layer without target has to be known to implement Green's theorem, the problem of acoustic propagation in a waveguide is also examined. The final purpose is to study the quantitative influence of the presence of the targ et on the structure of the acoustic pressure in the waveguide. The final ai m is to validate numerical results. Therefore theoretical calculations are compared with experimental results. This comparison is possible only if the theoretical model corresponds to experimental conditions. Therefore, the b ottom of the waveguide for the theoretical model is a fluid bottom and the target is elastic.