Acoustic performance of a metascreen-based coating for maritime applications

Time and frequency domain numerical models are developed to investigate the acoustic performance of metasurface coatings for marine applications. The coating designs are composed of periodic air-filled cavities embedded in a soft elastic medium, which is attached to a hard backing and submerged in water. Numerical results for a metamaterial coating with cylindrical cavities are favourably compared with analytical and experimental results from the literature. Frequencies associated with peak sound absorption as a function of the geometric parameters of the cavities and material properties of the host medium are predicted. Variation in the cavity dimensions that modifies the cylindrical-shaped cavities to flat disks or thin needles is modelled. Results reveal that high sound absorption occurs when either the diameter or length of the cavities is reduced. Physical mechanisms governing sound absorption for the various cavity designs are described.

Polarization insensitive symmetrical structured double negative (DNG) metamaterial absorber for Ku-band sensing applications

Metamaterial absorber (MMA) is now attracting significant interest due to its attractive applications, such as thermal detection, sound absorption, detection for explosive, military radar, wavelength detector, underwater sound absorption, and various sensor applications that are the vital part of the internet of things. This article proposes a modified square split ring resonator MMA for Ku-band sensing application, where the metamaterial structure is designed on FR-4 substrate material with a dielectric constant of 4.3 and loss tangent of 0.025. Perfect absorption is realized at 14.62 GHz and 16.30 GHz frequency bands, where peak absorption is about 99.99% for both frequency bands. The proposed structure shows 70% of the average absorption bandwidth of 420 MHz (14.42–14.84 GHz) and 480 MHz (16.06–16.54 GHz). The metamaterial property of the proposed structure is investigated for transverse electromagnetic mode (TEM) and achieved negative permittivity, permeability, and refractive index property for each absorption frequency band at 0°, 45°, and 90° polarization angles. Interference theory is also investigated to verify the absorption properties. Moreover, the permittivity sensor application is investigated to verify the sensor performance of the proposed structure. Finally, a comparison with recent works is performed, which shows that the proposed MMA can be a good candidate for Ku-band perfect absorber and sensing applications.

Investigation of Acoustic Properties of Different Types of Low-Noise Road Surfacers under In Situ and Laboratory Conditions

Current literature on the performance characteristics of road surfaces is primarily focused on evenness, roughness and technical durability. However, other important surface properties require analysis, including noisiness, which is an important feature of the environmental impact of vehicular traffic around roads. This can be studied using various methods by which road noise phenomena are investigated. The method used to measure the noise performance of road surfaces herein is the Statistical Pass-By (SPB) method, as described in ISO 11819-1:1997. The impedance tube method was used for sound absorption testing, as described in ISO 13472-2:2010. These tests were performed under a variety of conditions: in situ and in laboratory. The existence of relationships between them can be helpful in selecting surfaces for noise reduction. Preliminary surface noise tests can be performed in the laboratory with samples consisting of various compounds. This is less expensive and faster than doing so on purpose-built surfaces. The paper presents study results for sound absorption coefficients of various types of low-noise surfaces in in situ conditions (on an experimental section and on operated road sections) and in the laboratory setting. The results of the tests performed on the operational sections were compared to the results of the surface impact on road noise using the SPB method. The correlations between the test results help confirm the feasibility of road surface pre-testing in the laboratory and the relation to tests performed using the SPB method under typical operating conditions.

Enhanced Low-Frequency Sound Absorption of a Porous Layer Mosaicked with Perforated Resonator

A composite structure composed of a porous-material layer mosaicked with a perforated resonator is proposed to improve the low-frequency sound absorption of the porous layer. This structure is investigated in the form of a porous-material matrix (PM) and a perforated resonator (PR), and the PR is a thin perforated plate filled with porous material in its back cavity. Theoretical and numerical models are established to predict the acoustic impedance and sound absorption coefficient of the proposed structure, and two samples made of polyurethane and melamine, respectively, are tested in an impedance tube. The predicted results are consistent with that of the measured. Compared with a single porous layer with the same thickness, the results show that the designed structure provides an additional sound absorption peak at low frequencies. The proposed structure is compact and has an effective absorption bandwidth of more than two octaves especially below the frequency corresponding to 1/4 wavelength. A comparison is also made between the sound absorption coefficients of the proposed structure and a classical micro-perforated plate (MPP), and the results reveal equivalent acoustic performance, suggesting that it can be used as an alternative to the MPP for low–mid frequency sound absorption. Moreover, the influences of the main parameters on the sound absorption coefficient of PPCS are also analyzed, such as the hole diameter, area ratio, flow resistance, and porous-material thickness in the PR. The mechanism of sound absorption is discussed through the surface acoustic impedance and the distributions of particle velocity and sound pressure at several specific frequencies. This work provides a new idea for the applications of the thin porous layer in low- and medium-frequency sound absorption.