Analysis and design of Piezoelectric sonar transducers.

Abstract

In this study techniques are developed for the analysis and design of piezoelectric sonar transducers based on equivalent circuit representations. For the purposes of analysis, equivalent circuits capable of accurately representing every element of a transducer in the full operating frequency range, are developed. The most convenient fashion in which these equivalents could be derived is also discussed. For the purposes of design the accurate equivalents are approximated by L-C-R circuits. The limits of both representations are discussed in detail. The technique of analysis developed is capable of determining the frequency characteristics as well as the transient response to any electrical or acoustic input which can be specified analytically or numerically in the time domain. The design technique is based on the formulation of a ladder-type generalized circuit incorporating the essential components of any transducer. The generalised circuit is then used to extract particular bandpass filter designs which possess wide passbands and which are mechanically realizable. By this procedure it is found possible to design transducers exhibiting bandwidths of around 100%. The performance of a 'test' transducer constructed to verify both analysis and design theories is also discussed.