Physics and modelling of generation and propagation of noise by complex sources in realistic basins

The need to develop more accurate numerical tools for the propagation of noise in underwater environments is driven by the continuous increase of human activity in the sea and coastal areas. Noise has been shown to be dangerous to marine wildlife, and steps should be taken soon to mitigate it. Knowing that the primary sources of noise pollution at sea are marine propellers, one of the problems is assessing how the noise generated interacts with the environment, since up to now, the main focus was the characterization of the acoustic signature in the near field or, alternatively, the propagation of simplified acoustic sources in sea-like domains. The work conducted in this thesis assesses the modelling of complex acoustic sources and the propagation of acoustic pressure in realistic domains. A propagation model based on the solution of the acoustic wave equation in the time and space domain is implemented and used in conjunction with the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) to analyze the possible patterns occurring in the underwater environment. Specifically, we analyzed the noise radiated by a marine propeller in a canal, focusing on the effects of the boundaries on the acoustic field and, secondly, the consequence of a rotating body placed underneath a free surface. We defined a new methodology called Full Acoustic Analogy (FAA) to achieve these results. This methodology aims to overcome some intrinsic limitations of the known Acoustic Analogies. The study presented here attempts to bridge the gap between noise characterization and its propagation by introducing a new methodology for evaluating flow-induced noise in a realistic environment. The propagation model developed, which used the finite-difference-time-domain method, has been compared against benchmark cases (monopole source propagating in classical waveguides) for which an analytical solution is available, and it provides accurate results of the acoustic field. Furthermore, a second analysis is conducted on two classical waveguides: the Ideal one and the Pekeris one. The solution of the wave equation in time and physical space enables the implementation of different sources, such as dipole and quadrupole; therefore, we analyzed the acoustic response of the Pekeris waveguide. The results show that the propagation of the acoustic pressure is strongly affected by the directivity pattern of the source. This was the first step in evaluating the capabilities of the solution of the acoustic equation in the presence of sources characterized by complex directivity since our ultimate goal is to evaluate the noise emitted by a propeller. In the second part, the FAA analogy is introduced, and we describe how the acoustic pressure obtained with the FW-H equation is used as a source term in the propagation model. After the validation of the new proposed methodology in an unbounded homogeneous domain, we investigate the propagation of the linear part of the noise generated by a naval propeller within a canal. Local maxima and minima of the acoustic fields arise from the interaction between the noise source and the environment; in particular, they derive from the superposition of direct and reflected waves. Moreover, a rotating body placed underneath a free surface generates a peculiar asymmetry of the acoustic field associated with the interaction between the acoustic waves and the free surface.