Development of Underwater Acoustic Performance Measurement System Using Pulse Tubes

Underwater acoustic materials are installed in order to reduce reflection, transmission and radiation of an underwater structure. The acoustic performance of the materials should be evaluated in accurately-controlled environment in terms of temperature and static pressure. In this paper, two pulse tubes, which are equipped with temperature and pressure controllers, are designed and developed to evaluate echo reduction(ER) and transmission loss(TL) of underwater acoustic materials. The procedures of the evaluation are suggested and the validation is carried out by comparing theoretical values to experimental results for a simple stainless steel specimen and free surface. In result, it is validated that developed pulse tubes are able to measure ER and TL with 2 dB tolerance.