ASA 124th Meeting New Orleans 1992 October

4aEA4. Underwater acoustical testing facilities and capabilities at Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin (ARL:UT).

James E. Stockton

Appl. Res. Labs., Univ. of Texas at Austin, P.O. Box 8029, Austin, TX 78713-8029

ARL:UT's first test facility was established in 1952. Facilities and capabilities have expanded since that time to the present day configuration: two rectangular concrete tanks housed inside ARL:UT's main laboratory building, two cylindrical wooden tanks located outside at the main laboratory, and a lake facility, known as Lake Travis Test Station (LTTS), located approximately 18 road miles from the main laboratory. Underwater acoustic transducers from small probes to units weighing up to 30 tons can be accommodated. Measurement systems currently available are both analog and digital and provide the capability for receive sensitivity, both voltage and current transmit responses, and directivity (beam) patterns over a nominal frequency range of 100 Hz to 2 MHz. Water depths range from 8 to 40 ft in the test tanks and nominally from 80 to 150 ft at LTTS. Test distances up to nominally 60 ft can be achieved in the test tanks and up to several miles at LTTS.