Nonlinear ray dynamics in underwater acoustics

This thesis is concerned with long-range sound propagation in deep water. The main area of interest is the stability of acoustic ray paths in wave guides in which there is a transition from single to double duct sound speed profiles, or vice-versa. Sound propagation is modelled within a ray theoretical framework, which facilitates a dynamical systems approach of understanding long-range propagation phenomena, and the use of its tools of analysis. Alternative reduction techniques to the Poincaré sections are presented, by which the stability of acoustic rays can be graphically determined. Beyond periodic driving, these techniques prove to be useful in case of the simplest quasiperiodic driving of the ray equations. One of the techniques facilitates a special representation of ray trajectories for periodic driving. Namely, the space of sectioned trajectories is partitioned into nonintersecting regular and chaotic regions as with the Poincaré sections, when quasiperiodic and chaotic trajectories are represented by curve segments and area filling points, respectively. In case of the simplest quasiperiodic driving – speaking about the same technique – regular trajectories are represented by curves similar to Lissajous curves, which are opened or closed depending on whether the two driving frequencies involved make relative primes or not. It is confirmed for a perturbed canonical profile that the background sound speed structure controls ray stability. It is also demonstrated for a particular double duct profile, when the singularity of the nonlinearity parameter for the homoclinic trajectory associated with this profile refers to the strong instability of corresponding perturbed trajectories.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo