Acoustic sensing in harsh environments: Applications in chemical weapons verification, nuclear facility monitoring, and more

Acoustic sensing is a powerful tool for evaluating objects and environments without being directly exposed to the hazards they contain. Acoustic transducers can also be engineered to work in high temperature and pressure environments, with exposure to corrosive media, and even ionizing radiation. Techniques, such as Swept-Frequency Acoustic Interferometry, allow one to determine the composition of extremely toxic chemicals such as chemical weapons within sealed containers without ever exposing the operator to the contents within. Passive listening can be used to evaluate the efficiency of nuclear facility processes with minimal downtime, even over the course of years. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, many of the applications of acoustic sensing fall under harsh environments due to the nature of defense and non-proliferation work. In this talk, I will describe some of these exotic applications we have worked on, with a particular focus on how acoustics is uniquely equipped to deal with environments and situations that other sensing modalities cannot.