Wideband Sonar Arrays for UUV and Weapon System Applications

Wideband sonar transducers find many applications in underwater vehicles. Two methods can be used to design wideband acoustic transducers. The multiply resonant transducer concept has found very limited operational application. Also, new piezoelectric materials have been developed that have very high electromechanical coupling coefficient and provide wider bandwidth. However, no study to date has compared these two design methods for performance and cost differences, and none has investigated the possible additional benefits of combining the two methods in a single transducer element for greater benefit than is available from either separately. That is the objective of the present study.