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Underwater electric potential (UEP) ship signatures are evaluated at a test site that provides only incoherent data from electric field sensors placed on the seabed. This paper shows how these data sets can be used to extract significant seabed parameters, which are evaluated by a numerical model combined with an optimization process in the frequency range from 1 Hz up to 100 kHz. This is in contrast to the controlled electromagnetic source technology used by geophysicists, which has to track both phase and amplitude, and, therefore, cannot simply be applied to data from per se stationary systems. Using the aforementioned frequency range within COMSOL Multiphysics (v6.0), the finite-element-based simulation software, a sensitivity analysis of seabed parameter behavior within a seabed depth range from 1 m to 20 m is evaluated for the highest sensitivity for each of the measurable field amplitudes of the locally available sensors. From this, the electrical conductivities of two seabed layers and the depth of the first layer can be extracted using a combination of a genetic algorithm and the Nelder–Mead method. In summary, phase information is not required to characterize the stratified seabed, providing a cost-effective approach to obtaining effective environmental conditions for free-water signature calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The underwater electric potential (UEP) signature is an electric signal, which can be exploited by naval mines to be utilized as a possible trigger indicator and may cause severe damage to the vessel and the onboard crew. Hence, knowing the UEP signature as exactly as possible can help to evaluate a possible risk of the vessel being detected by naval mines or if the UEP signature is within a noncritical region. As the UEP signature differs for changes of the corrosion protection system, the UEP signature is usually unknown for new conditions. In this work, we present a simple mathematical formulation to predict the UEP signature based on the mere use of a single reference UEP signature, and the corresponding currents, which are excited by the impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) system. With this methodology, deviations below 10% between the maximum of the simulated UEP signature and the predicted UEP signature can be achieved, even in the presence of the nonlinear corrosion process. Furthermore, a corrosion protective coating of the propellers can significantly reduce the influence of the nonlinear corrosion process on the total UEP signature to improve the prediction accuracy of the superposition formulation as presented in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]