The normal incidence reflection coefficient of a sandy seabed as a function of frequency

A thesis investigates the measured and theoretical pressure reflection coefficients of the seabed at normal incidence. The theoretical reflection coefficient is calculated using a physics-based model developed by Maurice Biot. The model describes sound propagation in saturated porous media and interrelationships between the acoustic properties of the media and the physical properties of the pore fluid and the porous solid. Stoll modified the Biot model for the case of ocean sediments and developed an expression for calculating the reflection coefficient as a function of frequency. This thesis tests the model by comparing the reflection coefficient measured with chirp sonar to the reflection coefficient calculated using the Biot model. An experiment was conducted off Fort Walton Beach, Florida where chirp sonar transmitted FM pulses at normal incidence to a sandy seabed. Sediment properties measured during SAX-99 are used to calculate the theoretical reflection coefficient using the Biot-Stoll model. The agreement of the measured reflection coefficients with the theoretical calculations over the band of 1500 to 16000 Hz varies as much as 70%. The plotted results show a reduction of the reflection coefficient with frequency but the large deviations from the trend prevent any further conclusions.