Underwater sound scattering and absorption by a coated infinite plate with attached periodically located inhomogeneities.

This paper extends previous work of Zhang and Pan [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133(4), 2082-2096 (2013)] on sound scattering and absorption by an underwater coated plate with a single attached distributed-inhomogeneity to that with periodically located distributed-inhomogeneities. A comparison is made among cases of a plate without inhomogeneities, a plate with inhomogeneities, and one with inhomogeneities ignoring the mutual coupling. Results show that coupling of the structural waves scattered by the inhomogeneities plays an important role in modifying the sound absorption and scattering of surface sound pressure, especially at low frequencies and/or the resonance frequencies of the trapped modes of the plate. The sound absorption of the plate is dependent on the distance between the adjacent inhomogeneities, the length of the inhomogeneity, and the angle of the incident sound. On the surface of the inhomogeneities, the scattered/total sound pressure is generally enhanced. On the surface in between the inhomogeneities, the pressure is also enhanced at low frequencies but is nearly unchanged at higher frequencies. Results also show that the coupling-induced variation of scattered/total pressure is significant only at the resonance frequencies of the global modes and trapped modes. The surface normal velocity is presented to explain the coupling-induced variations in the vibration and pressure fields.