A deep-ocean hydrophone array

A curved face hydrophone array has been designed, constructed, and tested for 20 000-ft depth operations. A basic description of the hydrophone design is presented, where the hydrophone consists of a beamforming array of staves mounted on the circumference of a 20-in.-diameter cylindrical housing. Since conventional pressure release materials cannot be used in the construction, solutions to problems encountered, such as flexural waves generated in the housing wall and improper backing impedances for the individual elements, will be briefly discussed. A presentation of the received frequency response and beam patterns show that the transducer properties are insensitive to hydrostatic pressures up to 1000 psi.