ENGINEERING PROJECT PROPOSAL
Fall 2025

Acoustic wave propagation is a topic of growing importance in many advancing technologies. Applications range from biomedical imaging, where sound waves enable non-invasive diagnostics, to submarine defense systems. This project will focus on the computational study of multiple scattering of acoustic waves. The student will begin by reviewing a selected research paper that introduces a fast multiple scattering algorithm. Such algorithms are essential because direct numerical simulation of many interacting scatterers is prohibitively expensive, especially when applied to large-scale or real-time applications. To gain practical experience, the student will be provided with access to TMATROM (T-Matrix Reduced Order Model), a specialized software package designed for simulating and analyzing acoustic scattering phenomena efficiently. The student will use TMATROM to reproduce selected results from the literature and then perform their own simulations to test the algorithm under different conditions (e.g., varying scatterer shapes, densities, or frequencies).

(See https://sdgs.un.org/goals for details.)

1. SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

1. Prepare a short overview of the mathematical and physical principles of acoustic wave propagation and scattering.
2. Reproduce key results from the paper, and then perform additional simulations by varying parameters (scatterer shape, frequency, or arrangement).

1. Willingness to learn and work with specialized simulation software (TMATROM).
2. Prior exposure to numerical methods (finite element, finite difference, or related) is helpful but not required.
3. Familiarity with concepts in mechanics or applied mathematics is a plus.