Skewness and kurtosis analysis of cavitation noise for underwater vehicles

Cavitation is an important factor in the overall design of high-speed underwater vehicle. The research on the characteristics of cavitation noise is helpful to improve the navigation performance and enhance the target detection ability of underwater vehicle. In this paper, the formation mechanism and mathematical model of cavitation noise are introduced firstly. Then, the statistical characteristics of cavitation noise are analyzed based on measured data, the probability distribution, skewness and kurtosis of the typical cavitation noise in the form of an individual acoustic pulse are calculated, and the skewness and kurtosis of cavitation noise under different conditions of no cavitation and fully developed cavitation are compared and analyzed. The results show that the cavitation noise of underwater vehicle has obvious non Gaussian characteristics when the cavitation is fully developed, and its skewness and kurtosis are significantly greater than those of Gaussian noise or the actual marine ambient noise. It is beneficial for the underwater vehicle to improve the accuracy of target radiated noise detection and the environmental adaptability of detection system under cavitation condition.