Transient Sound Propagation in a Layered Liquid Medium

A theoretical analysis is made of transient sound propagation between a source and receiver located at arbitrary points in a horizontally stratified liquid medium. Definite integral expressions are developed for an event which has been reflected from, and transmitted through, the interfaces in some designated manner. This event always contains a disturbance which has an onset corresponding to the arrival time predicted by simple acoustic wave theory; for a large horizontal offset of the receiver this arrival may be preceded by a refracted disturbance. The total pressure variation at the receiver, up to some time t, may be ascertained by evaluating all the reflected and refracted events that have onsets preceding t. The employment of a high‐capacity digital computer should permit a detailed investigation of problems which involve a few strata only and a receiver offset which is not excessive. It is emphasized, however, that such investigations would involve considerable computing costs, and it is, therefore, economically desirable to incorporate certain approximations into the theoretical analysis.