Sound propagation in a wedge-shaped waveguide with perfectly reflecting boundaries is one of the few range-dependent problems with an analytical solution, and hence provides an ideal benchmark for a full two-way solution to the wave equation. An analytical solution for the sound propagation in an ideal wedge with a pressure-release bottom was presented by Buckingham and Tolstoy [Buckingham and Tolstoy 1990 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87 1511]. The ideal wedge problem with a rigid bottom is also of great importance in underwater acoustics. We present an analytical solution to the ideal wedge problem with a perfectly reflecting bottom, either rigid or pressure-release, which may be used to provide a means for investigating the sound field in depth-varying channels, and to establish the accuracy of numerical propagation models. Closed-form expressions for coupling matrices are also provided for the ideal waveguides characterized by a homogeneous water column bounded by perfectly reflecting boundaries. A comparison between the analytical solution and the numerical solution recently proposed by Luo et al. [Luo W Y, Yang C M and Zhang R H 2012 Chin. Phys. Lett. 29 014302] is also presented, through which the accuracy of this numerical model is illustrated.
A propagation experiment was conducted in the South China Sea in 2014 with a flat bottom and seamounts respectively by using explosive sources. The effects of seamounts on sound propagation are analyzed by using the broadband signals. It is observed that the transmission loss (TL) decreases up to 7 dB for the signals in the first shadow zone due to the seamount reflection. Moreover, the TL might increase more than 30 dB in the converge zone due to the shadowing by seamounts. Abnormal TLs and pulse arrival structures at different ranges are explained by using the ray and wave theory. The experimental TLs and arrival pulses are compared with the numerical results and found to be in good agreement.
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