Modeling of acoustic wavefields by means of the random matrix theory

A method of acoustic wavefield modeling in a randomly-inhomogeneous underwater sound channel is considered. The method is based on the construction of a propagator in the basis of normal modes of the waveguide. Mode coupling is modeled using random matrices with uncorrelated elements whose variances are determined by inhomogeneity spectrum. Spectral statistics of such propagator is compared with the corresponding data obtained via direct solution of the parabolic equation. It is shown that the propagator constructed via random matrices describes fairly the process of wavefield decoherence with increasing range.