Spectral-Element Simulations of Acoustic Waves Induced by a Moving Underwater Source

In this study, we model acoustic waves induced by moving acoustic sources in three-dimensional (3D) underwater settings based on a spectral-element method (SEM). Numerical experiments are conducted using the SEM software package SPECFEM3D_Cartesian, which facilitates fluid–solid coupling and absorbing boundary conditions. Examples presented in this paper include an unbounded fluid truncated by using absorbing boundaries, and a shallow-water waveguide modeled as a fluid–solid coupled system based on domain decomposition. In the numerical experiments, the SEM-computed pressures match their analytical counterparts. SEM solutions of pressures at points behind and ahead of modeled moving acoustic sources show a frequency shift, i.e., a Doppler effect, which matches the analytical solution. This paper contributes to the field of passive sonar-based detection of moving acoustic sources, and addresses the challenge of computing wave responses generated by side-scan sonar by using moving sources of continuous signals.