Physical model of acoustic forward scattering by cylindrical shell and its experimental validation

Research on the underwater target scattering can provide important theoretical support for target detection. The scattering model of cylindrical shell is established in this paper. It is found that the forward target strength is much stronger and varies with angles of incident wave less significantly than backward target strength. The received forward signal strength fluctuates with the target moving due to the interference between direct signal and scattering signal, which is most significant when the target approaches the baseline. An experiment is carried out in an anechoic tank to validate the scattering model. The method of acquisiting forward scattering in the tank is proposed. The forward and the backward target strengths are achieved by using the pulse compression technology, and they are about 3dB less than the modeling results. The forward scattering phenomena of quiescent and moving targets are measured, which are similar to modeling results with different target types.