Anechoic tiles can significantly reduce the echo intensity of underwater vehicles, thereby increasing the difficulty of detecting such vehicles. However, the computational efficiency of conventional methods such as the finite element method (FEM) and the boundary element method (BEM) has its limitations. A fast hybrid method for modeling acoustic scattering from underwater vehicles with anechoic tiles with periodic internal cavities, is developed by combining the Kirchhoff approximation (KA) and FEM. The accuracy and rapidity of the KA method were validated by FEM. According to the actual situation, the reflection coefficients of rubber materials with two different structures under rigid backing are simulated by FEM. Using the KA method, the acoustic scattering characteristics of the underwater vehicle with anechoic tiles are obtained by inputting the reflection coefficients and the target’s geometric grid. Experiments on the monostatic target strength (TS) in the frequency range of 1 to 20 kHz and time domain echo characteristics of acoustic scattering on a benchmark scale model with anechoic tiles are conducted. The research results indicate that the TS values and echo characteristic curves of the KA solutions closely approximate the experimental results, which verifies the accuracy of the KA method in calculating the TS and echo characteristics of underwater vehicles with anechoic tiles.

The overall acoustic echo of a submarine is greatly dependent on the conning tower. For enhancing the acoustic stealth performance of a submarine, it is necessary to research an innovative design scheme of the conning tower to reduce its target strength (TS). The aim of this work is to reduce the TS of a conning tower by varying its geometry and streamlining. The accuracy in modelling the acoustic scattering of a conning tower using the Kirchhoff approximation (KA) was validated, compared with finite element analysis (FEA). Several angular conning tower geometries were designed to analyze the effect of streamlining and the number of lateral facets on TS using the KA method. In consideration of the actual situation, the acoustic effect of backing medium was analyzed by compared water-filled elastic hulls with rigid hulls. From the observed TS calculation results, it is shown that the non-streamlined four lateral-facet conning tower geometries are optimal for acoustic stealth performance during the range of incidence angles from −10X to 10X, whereas the streamlined versions have better performance at incidence angles beyond this range. Furthermore, elastic hulls and rigid hulls provide similar spatial distribution regularities in monostatic configuration with the rigidity affecting the magnitude of the TS.