Experimental study on sound propagation caused by disturbance of wake flow on water surface boat

The research on underwater sound propagation generally assumes that the water is static. However, when a boat passes on the water surface, its wake can cause disturbance to the stable sound field. The main reason is that the wake changes the temperature and salinity distributions of seawater in the just field, thereby affecting propagation loss. This article conducts a time-frequency analysis of the sound signal propagated by the boat wake. Results show that the wake not only affects the propagation loss but also causes obvious fluctuations in the envelope of the received signal. This fluctuation indicates the frequency modulation of sound by the boat wake. These changes in sound propagation are not only related to the boat speed but also to the signal frequency.