Analysis of unidirectional broadband piezoelectric spherical shell transducers for underwater acoustics

This paper presents an analytical investigation and experimental verification of the properties of unidirectional broadband piezoelectric acoustic transducers utilizing axisymmetric vibrations of both complete and incomplete spherical piezoelectric shells and is a continuation of a previous paper that presented the electromechanical modal analysis part of the problem [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 130(2), 753-763 (2011)]. The analysis covers the treatment of the acoustic radiation and reception problem by including analysis of the acoustic impedances and diffraction coefficients as a function of geometry and modal excitation as well as providing specific design examples including multimode spherical acoustic transducers with conformal baffles, and transducers made of incomplete shells (e.g., hemispheres and caps) with free circumferential boundary conditions. The energy method is used to obtain equivalent parameters for a multi-contour electromechanical circuit representation of the transducer and to calculate the transducer performance characteristic as sound projectors and as receivers. Experimental results are obtained on representative piezoceramic transducer prototypes and are in good agreement with the analytical results.