RAY CHAOS IN UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC WAVEGUIDES

Abstract

The chaotic motion of a ray path in a deep water acoustic waveguide with internal-wave-induced fluctuations of the sound speed is investigated. A statistical approach for the description of chaotic rays is discussed. The behavior of ray trajectories is studied using Hamiltonian formalism expressed in terms of action-angle variables. It is shown that the range dependence of the action variable of chaotic ray can be approximated by a random Wiener process. On the basis of this result, analytical expressions for probability density functions of ray parameters are derived. Distributions of coordinates, momenta (grazing angles), and actions of sound rays are evaluated. Numerical simulation shows that statistical characteristics of ray parameters weakly depend on a particular realization of random perturbation giving rise to ray chaos.