UUV radiated noise prediction method based on modal characteristics

To address the prediction of radiated noise from unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), this paper proposes a non-uniform measurement point placement method based on the modal distribution characteristics of surface vibration velocity. Unlike the traditional approach—which uniformly distributes vibration velocity measurement points—this method strategically places measurement points in regions with higher modal velocities. The proposed method is applied to model the typical line spectrum of UUV radiated noise. Numerical simulations based on the finite element model presented in this paper indicate that: (i) densifying measurement points in regions where the vibration velocity amplitude is at least 50% of its maximum value, and (ii) uniformly placing six points along the axial direction within those regions, significantly improves the accuracy of radiated sound field prediction. With a limited number of measurement points, concentrating more vibration measurements in regions of higher vibration velocity effectively captures the dominant acoustic radiation features, reduces modeling errors, and enables efficient prediction of the UUV’s radiated sound field.