Dehua Huang
M. A. Breazeale
Natl. Ctr. for Phys. Acoust., Univ. of Mississippi, University, MS 38677
A non-Green's function integral method---the Gaussian beam optimization superposition representation [Wen and Breazeale, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 83, 1752--1756 (1988)], combined with the finite element solution to the parabolic wave equation [Huang, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 84, 1405--1413 (1988)], has been developed to treat the underwater diffraction field of a distributed source. The numerical examples cover Gaussian and multiple Gaussian sources, homogeneous and inhomogeneous media, high- and low-frequency range, and regular or irregular interface boundaries.