Nonlinear acoustical detection of buried landmines using pulsed standoff excitation

To help resolve certain practical issues with acoustical methods for landmine detection, experiments were performed using a pulsed, standoff source consisting of sixteen speakers mounted on a circular arc. This source, as well as a pair of 18-inch subwoofers, were used separately for acoustical excitation of the buried mine, and the response of the target site was examined as a function of source frequency, sound pressure level, and excitation signal type, with a particular focus on multitone signals. In addition, modeling was undertaken to investigate the effects of nonlinearity, including bimodular nonlinearity, on frequency generation. A numerical, time-domain solution based on a lumped-element model proposed by Donskoy et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 690 (2005)] was developed and used to simulate pulsed excitation and the effects of bimodular nonlinearity, which allowed experimentally observed spectra to be compared with modeled results.