A tool for designing water tanks for measuring hydroacoustic transducers

Special water tanks are commonly used to measure the parameters of underwater acoustic systems. They must meet specific requirements, the fulfilment of which ensures very small but acceptable measurement errors. These requirements define the size of the tank and its shape as well as the strong attenuation of reflected waves. At the design stage, it is necessary to determine the impact of the tank structure on the measurement errors and to adapt it to the expected measurement methodology. The article presents a mathematical tool for designing such water tanks using the impulse response method. Contrary to the use of this method in architectural design, the presented method is here used to determine the measurement signals emitted by ultrasonic transmitting transducers and received by receiving transducers. The relationships are given between the parameters of the impulse response and the design parameters of the tank and the measurement system, as well as its transfer functions and sample measurement signals.