PIEZOCOMPOSITE COATING FOR ACTIVE UNDERWATER SOUND REDUCTION

An active acoustic coating is presented for layering over objects in a fluid medium. The design of the active coating prevents an incident sound wave from reflecting off the acoustic boundary of a submerged object. The acoustic energy associated with the incident disturbance is absorbed out of the medium through a piezocomposite device in the coating and dissipated by internal electrical means. The components encapsulated inside the elastomer coating are a piezocomposite actuator and piezoelectric polymer sensors. The sensor arrangement detects and separates the acoustic field into a signal in terms of the incident acoustic pressure wave. The signal is manipulated through an electronic network to generate an appropriate driving voltage. This output drives a thickness extensional mode piezocomposite transducer (actuator) with a linear velocity profile over a broad frequency band. The actuator excitation results in a dynamic impedance matching with the incident disturbance such that the coating appears as a nonreflective acoustic surface. An advanced coating design includes an actuator that can be simultaneously driven to reduce the reflected and transmitted sound fields. Experimental results are presented for one-dimensional incident planar acoustic waves propagating in a water filled pulse tube.