Measurement and Modeling of the Debye Effect in Hydroacoustics Navy SBIR FY2010.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2010.1 Topic No.: N101-037 Topic Title: Measurement and Modeling of the Debye Effect in Hydroacoustics Proposal No.: N101-037-1490 Firm: Continuum Dynamics, Inc. 34 Lexington Avenue Ewing, New Jersey 08618-2302 Contact: Alexander Boschitsch Phone: (609) 538-0444 Web Site: www.continuum-dynamics.com Abstract: Since submarines operate in an ionic seawater environment, there exists the possibility that any of several recognized electro-kinetic mechanisms may be excited and produce potentially detectable electromagnetic fields. Of particular focus in the proposed effort is the electroacoustic mechanism known as the Debye effect which describes the electric potential that develops when ions are displaced by passage of an acoustic wave. The proposed effort combines both experimental and theoretical methods to quantify the electromagnetic signature produced by an acoustic wave propagating through seawater in the vicinity of an undersea vehicle. These methods will review, formulate and implement physics modeling procedures to characterize the electromagnetic source associated with an acoustic wave via the Debye effect mechanism. This characterization will be combined with efficient, fast boundary element algorithms to evaluate the long range field intensity resulting from the integrated source distributions. In Phase I these methods will be used to establish whether the acoustic-induced electromagnetic field is detectable and, if so, the configurations, acoustic illuminations and frequency ranges where this field strength is most likely maximized. This information will be used to design the Phase II research and development effort concerned with developing prototype sensor hardware and refining the electro-acoustic detection algorithms. Benefits: A successful Phase I/Phase II effort would provide both the hardware and software resources needed to measure acoustically produced electrokinetic effects with specific emphasis on submarine detection. The most immediate commercialization opportunity enabled by these resources is the manufacture and sale of electroacoustic sensors to the Navy together with the attendant software interfaces to existing Navy detection capabilities. There are numerous additional applications where the electroacoustic effect is relevant including the characterization of ionic and colloidal systems with applications to emulsions, ceramics, paints and coal slurries to name a few. The combined sensor and modeling technology also finds application to geological surveillance and exploration as well as to current submarine detection methods based on magnetic anomaly detectors. The technology extends readily to other electrokinetic effects such as electrophoresis and electro-osmosis with applications in separation techniques, environmental remediation and designing the rheological properties of colloidal systems. In these diverse areas, the tools developed under Phase I and II are expected to play a role in expediting the analysis and design of associated sensors and actuators and determine optimal operating frequencies. The effort dovetails into and leverages existing capabilities in two of CDI's core development areas: (i) hydrodynamics with a focus on acoustic signature mitigation and (ii) fast multipole methods. Development in these areas will allow CDI to provide effective modeling tools to solve the Helmholtz equation which arises in numerous important contexts, but whose solution continues to pose significant computational challenges particularly for internal acoustics; and to expand services in hydro-dynamic and acoustic modeling. Return