Utilization of coir fiber in multilayer acoustic absorption panel

Coconut is one of the most important harvests in Malaysia. Industrial prepared coir fiber is obtained from coconut husk combined with latex and other additives to enhance its structural characteristics. Unfortunately, such inevitable process diminishes the acoustical features of material. Previous studies on industrial coir fiber and fiber-air gap layers showed that low frequency absorptions needed improvements. Therefore perforated plate (PP) was added to the multilayer structure to further enhance the sound absorption in this area. Analyses were accomplished through three PP modeling approaches (Allard, Beranek and Ver, Atalla and Sgard) and Allard Transfer Function (TF) method. Experiments were conducted in impedance tube to support the analytical results. Outcomes showed that Allard TF method was generally closer to measurement values and implemented for additional analyses. Two possible conditions of putting PP in front of fiber layer or between fiber-air gap layers were investigated. Both arrangements were suitable to enhance the sound absorption. Although, when PP was backed by coir fiber and air gap, porosity of the plate had great influence in adjusting the amount of low frequency absorption. Result derived that PP might improve the low frequency absorption of coir fiber but at the same time the medium frequency absorption was reduced. This effect was noticed previously in coir fiber-air gap structures while the air gap thickness increased. The advantage of using PP was that it assisted in greatly reducing the air gap thickness under the same acoustical performance. Hence it is an efficient tool to reduce the thickness of acoustic isolators in practical purposes.     

Sound absorption characteristics of a high-temperature sintering porous ceramic material

This article is dedicated to sound absorption properties of porous zeolite with macropores, a ceramic material fabricated by high-temperature sintering. Acoustical properties of this ceramic material are studied by two analytical models, Delany–Bazley model and Johnson–Allard model, where the latter one shows a better fit to the experimental results. Moreover increasing the thickness of samples would improve the sound absorption in the low frequency ranges. Raising the porosity could increase the highest sound absorption coefficient. The resonance frequencies of the materials with 3–5 mm particles are more obvious. Comparing with glass wool, porous zeolite has a better sound absorption.     

A practical acoustical absorption analysis of coir fiber based on rigid frame modeling

An analytical study based on rigid frame model is demonstrated to evaluate the acoustic absorption of coir fiber. Effects of different conditions such as combination of air gap and perforated plate (PP) are studied in this work. Materials used here are treated as rigid rather than elastic, since the flow resistivity of coir fiber is very low. The well-known rigid frame Johnson-Allard equivalent-fluid model is applied to obtain the acoustic impedance of single layer coir fiber. Atalla and Sgard model is employed to estimate the surface impedance of PP. Acoustic transmission approach (ATA) is utilized for adding various consecutive layers in multilayer structure. Models are examined in different conditions such as single layer coir fiber, coir fiber backed with air gap, single layer PP in combination with coir fiber and air gap. Experiments are conducted in impedance tube on normal incidence sound absorption to validate the results. Results from the measurement are found to be in well agreement with the theoretical absorption coefficients. The performance of the rigid frame modeling method is checked more specifically in all conditions, by the mean prediction error rate of normal incidence sound absorption coefficients. Comparison between the measured absorption coefficients and predicted by rigid frame method shows discrepancy lower than 20 and 15% for most of the conditions in the frequency range of 0.2?C1.5 and 1.5?C5 kHz, respectively. Moreover, acoustic absorption of various single and multilayer structures is compared with the simpler empirical methods such as Delany-Bazley and Miki model; and complicated method such as Biot-Allard Model and Allard Transfer Function (TF) method. Comparisons show that the presented method offers a better accuracy of the results than the empirical models. Subsequently, it can provide almost same absorption plot with Biot-Allard model (single layer combination) and TF method (multilayer combination) proving it to be a comprehensively easy and general analytical tool. Therefore, the rigid frame model can be implemented relatively easier than other similar models to analyze the acoustic absorption of coir fiber in most of the conditions.     

Design optimization of porous fibrous material for maximizing absorption of sounds under set frequency bands

In this paper, a methodology is proposed for designing porous fibrous material with optimal sound absorption under set frequency bands. The material is assumed to have a rigid frame and a hexagonal arrangement of fibers, and the analytical model derived by Johnson, Champoux and Allard (“JCA model”) is used to investigate the influences of the micro-structural parameters (fiber radius r and gap w) on sound absorption performance, and the macro-acoustic parameters used in JCA model is determined via finite element analysis for the hexagonal micro-structure. Moreover, a mathematical model is constructed to obtain the optimized micro-structure design, with fiber radius and gap as design parameters and average absorption performance of the porous fibrous material under set frequency band as target. Utilizing the constructed optimization model, the microstructure parameters are derived with optimal sound absorption under low frequency (20 ⩽ f < 500 Hz), medium frequency (500 ⩽ f < 2000 Hz) and high frequency (2000 ⩽ f < 15,000 Hz), respectively. On top of that, for a given thickness of porous fibrous material layer, the analytical relationship between fiber radius and optimal porosity under set frequency bands is constructed.     

Prediction of the acoustic behavior of a parallel assembly of hollow cylinders

In this paper, an approach to predict the sound absorption coefficient and sound transmission loss of a parallel assembly of hollow cylinders is presented. This approach is based on image processing and the Parallel Transfer Matrix Method (PTMM) using four Johnson–Champoux–Allard effective fluids. First, effective parameters of each fluid are identified using geometrical considerations and numerical simulations. Then, the approach is validated for a stack of uniform plastic straws, and used to model a natural stack of non-uniform switchgrass straws. Finally, two parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effects of the geometric parameters of the straws on the acoustic behavior of their stack. It is shown that there are optimal parameters that maximize the acoustic behavior at specific frequencies.     

Inverse acoustical characterization of natural jute sound absorbing material by the particle swarm optimization method

For modeling of jute as acoustic material, knowledge of its non-acoustical parameters like porosity, tortuosity, air flow resistivity, thermal and viscous characteristic lengths is a prime requisite. Measurement of these non-acoustical parameters is not straightforward and involves a dedicated measurement setup. So in order to overcome this issue, the inverse acoustical characterization can be used. In this paper, the particle swarm optimization method (PSO) is used as an optimization method. This method estimates the non-acoustical parameters of jute material in felt form by minimizing the error between experimental and theoretical sound absorption data. In this work, the impedance prediction models for fibrous materials like Johnson–Champoux–Allard model with rigid and limp frame and Garai–Pompoli model is used for sound absorption coefficient calculation by the transfer matrix method along with the PSO. The inverse estimated non-acoustical parameters for jute material are then compared with estimated and experimentally measured parameters for jute felts. Using these inversely predicted parameters, sound absorption of multilayer sound absorbers is also studied.     

Acoustic velocity and attenuation coefficient of magnetorheological fluids under electromagnetic fields

Magnetorheological fluid (MRF) is a class of smart material whose acoustic properties can be varied rapidly and reversibly by the applied magnetic field. The MRF is proposed to be as actively sound barriers or acoustical metamaterial. This paper presents a theoretical model to study acoustic propagation in MRF under fields based on the Biot–Stoll model. The model considers the coupling interaction between ferro particle and base fluid. This paper investigated the acoustic velocity and attenuation of a commercial MRF dependence on the different parameters such as carrier fluid viscosity, permeability and intensity of magnetic field. The calculated results show that the attenuation is increased with small field strengths and independent on field strength when the magnetization begins to saturate.     

Effects of binder addition on the mechanical properties of bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors

We studied the effects of binder addition on the mechanical properties of bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors. We prepared YBa₂Cu₃O_y, Y₂BaCuO₅ powders and polyvinyl alcohol mixed with water as a binder. These raw materials were mixed, and the binder-added powders were pressed into pellets. The hardness of the green compacts with binder is higher than that without the binder. However, the hardness of green compacts with 8% binder is the same as that with 4% binder. The maximum compression strength of the precursor with binder is higher than that without binder. Equally, the maximum strength of the green compacts with 8% binder is higher than that with 4% binder. The differential thermal analysis measurements showed that the exothermic reaction due to the decomposition of the organic binder started at 550 °C and gradually proceeded with further heating. After de-binder treatment, BaCO₃ powders were produced on the green compacts. The green compacts were subjected to melt-processing. We also measured trapped magnetic fields of binder-added bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors with a Hall probe scanning device. Trapped magnetic field of the bulk added with 4% is higher than that of the binder-free bulk. Hence, Y–Ba–Cu–O bulk with suitable amount of binder shows good influence for mechanical strength and trapped magnetic field.     

Seven-hole hollow polyester fibers as reinforcement in sound absorption chlorinated polyethylene composites

A series of thin, lightweight and low-cost sound absorption composites consisting of chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) and seven-hole hollow polyester fibers (SHPF) were fabricated. The sound absorption property of the fiber composites was tested in an impedance tube, the morphology was characterized by a scanning electron micrographs (SEM) and the mechanical property of fiber composites was measured by strength tester. The effect of fiber content, composite thickness, and cavity depth on the sound absorption property, and the effect of fiber content on mechanical property and micro-structure were investigated. The results demonstrated that acoustical characteristics of porous materials were exhibited by mixing with SHPF. Acoustical absorption of materials increased significantly with increasing SHPF content. Furthermore, the acoustic property of composite with 20% SHPF concentration and 3 mm thickness was noted in the low frequency range, giving a sound absorption coefficient peak, 0.695 at 2500 Hz. Composite with air back cavity had resonance characteristics of a lamella with an absorption peak only occurring at a specific frequency. Compared with pure CPE of similar thickness, mechanically CPE/SHPF composite at the 1 mm thickness and 20% SHPF exhibited 228% higher tensile stress and 96% lower breaking strain. It appears from these results that CPE/SHPF composites have potential for engineering applications especially as sound absorbers.     

Experimental measurements of acoustical properties of snow and inverse characterization of its geometrical parameters

Snow is a sound absorbing porous sintered material composed of solid matrix of ice skeleton with air (+water vapour) saturated pores. Investigation of snow acoustic properties is useful to understand the interaction between snow structure and sound waves, which can be further used to devise non-destructive way for exploring physical (non-acoustic) properties of snow. The present paper discusses the experimental measurements of various acoustical properties of snow such as acoustic absorption coefficient, surface impedance and transmission losses across different snow samples, followed by inverse characterization of different geometrical parameters of snow. The snow samples were extracted from a natural snowpack and transported to a nearby controlled environmental facility at Patsio, located in the Great Himalayan range of India. An impedance tube system (ITS), working in the frequency range 63–6300 Hz, was used for acoustic measurements of these snow samples. The acoustic behaviour of snow was observed strongly dependent upon the incident acoustic frequency; for frequencies smaller than 1 kHz, the average acoustic absorption coefficient was found below than 0.4, however, for the frequencies more than 1 kHz it was found to be 0.85. The average acoustic transmission loss was observed from 1.45 dB cm⁻¹ to 3.77 dB cm⁻¹ for the entire frequency range. The real and imaginary components of normalized surface impedance of snow samples varied from 0.02 to 7.77 and −6.05 to 5.69, respectively. Further, the measured acoustic properties of snow were used for inverse characterization of non-acoustic geometrical parameters such as porosity, flow resistivity, tortuosity, viscous and thermal characteristic lengths using the equivalent fluid model proposed by Johnson, Champoux and Allard (JCA). Acoustically derived porosity and flow resistivity were also compared with experimentally measured values and good agreement was observed between them.     

General regression neural network for prediction of sound absorption coefficients of sandwich structure nonwoven absorbers

In this paper, we propose a more general forecasting method to predict the sound absorption coefficients at six central frequencies and the average sound absorption coefficient of a sandwich structure nonwoven absorber. The kernel assumption of the proposed method is that the acoustics property of sandwich structure nonwoven absorber is determined by some easily measured structural parameters, such as thickness, area density, porosity, and pore size of each layer, if the type of the fiber used in nonwoven is given. By holding this assumption in mind, we will use general regression neural network (GRNN) as a prediction model to bridge the gap between the measured structural parameters of each absorber and its sound absorption coefficient. In experiment section, one hundred sandwich structure nonwoven absorbers are particularly designed with ten different types of meltblown polypropylene nonwoven materials and four types of hydroentangled E-glass fiber nonwoven materials firstly. Secondly, four structural parameters, i.e., thickness, area density, porosity, and pore size of each layer are instrumentally measured, which will be used as the inputs of GRNN. Thirdly, the sound absorption coefficients of each absorber are measured with SW477 impedance tube. The sound absorption coefficient at 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz and their average value are used as the outputs of GRNN. Finally, the prediction framework will be carried out after the desired training set selection and spread parameter optimization of GRNN. The prediction results of 20 test samples show the prediction method proposed in this paper is reliable and efficient.     

Harmonic and intermodulation performance of optical-fiber Mach–Zehnder microphone

In this paper, closed-form mathematical expressions are obtained for the amplitudes of the harmonic and intermodulation products of the fiber optic Mach–Zehnder microphone excited by a multitone acoustical perturbation. The results show the strong dependence of the harmonic and intermodulation performance on the amplitude of the acoustical perturbation tones and the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage applied to the reference fiber of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The results also show that depending on the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage, either the third-order or the second-order intermodulation will be dominant. Compared to previously published results for other types of microphones, it appears that the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage plays an important role in deciding the order of the dominant intermodulation product.     

An application of Kozeny–Carman flow resistivity model to predict the acoustical properties of polyester fibre

Modelling of the acoustical properties of polyester fibre materials is usually based on variations of the Bies and Hansen empirical model [1], which allows the calculation of the air flow resistivity of a porous material. The flow resistivity is the key non-acoustical parameter which determines the ability of this kind of materials to absorb sound. The main scope of this work is to illustrate that an alternative theoretical model based on the Kozeny–Carman equation can be used to predict more accurately the flow resistivity from the fibre diameter and bulk material density data. In this paper the flow resistivity is retrieved from the acoustic absorption coefficient data for polyester fibre samples of different densities and fibre diameters. These data agree closely with the flow resistivity predicted with the proposed Kozeny–Carman model.     

Sound absorption properties of a sunflower composite made from crushed stem particles and from chitosan bio-binder

A recent study investigated the mechanical, thermal and acoustical properties of a bio-based composite made from crushed particles of sunflower stalks binded together by chitosan, a bio-based binder. The acoustical performance in absorption was found to be poor as the material was highly compacted and with low porosity. The present study focuses on the acoustical properties of a higher porosity composite, with lower density while the mechanical rigidity remains fairly high. A higher absorption coefficient is obtained. The experimental results on the absorption coefficient are compared to the prediction of a model involving 5 physical parameters (porosity, tortuosity, airflow resistivity, thermal and viscous characteristic lengths). The characterization methods to determine these parameters are described. The comparison between experimental and theoretical results shows that this material exhibits peculiar microstructural features. It is found that the sound absorption properties can involve dead-end pores or clusters and multiple porosity scales in the material.     

Analysis of a monolithic crystal plate acoustic wave filter

We study thickness–shear and thickness–twist vibrations of a finite, monolithic, AT-cut quartz plate crystal filter with two pairs of electrodes. The equations of anisotropic elasticity are used with the omission of the small elastic constant c₅₆. An analytical solution is obtained using Fourier series from which the resonant frequencies, mode shapes, and the vibration confinement due to the electrode inertia are calculated and examined.     

Improving the Morphological Parameters of Aluminum Foam for Maximum Sound Absorption Coefficient using Genetic Algorithm

Fabricating of metal foams with desired morphological parameters including pore size, porosity and pore opening is possible now using sintering technology. Thus, if it is possible to determine the morphology of metal foam to absorb sound at a given frequency, and then fabricate it through sintering, it is expected to have optimized metal foams for the best sound absorption. Theoretical sound absorption models such as Lu model describe the relationship between morphological parameters and the sound absorption coefficient. In this study, the Lu model was used to optimize the morphological parameters of Aluminum metal foam for the best sound absorption coefficient. For this purpose, the Lu model was numerically solved using written codes in MATLAB software. After validating the proposed codes with benchmark data, the genetic algorithm (GA) was applied to optimize the affecting morphological parameters on the sound absorption coefficient. The optimization was carried out for the thicknesses of 5 mm to 40 mm at the sound frequency range of 250 Hz–8000 Hz. The optimized parameters ranged from 50% to 95% for porosity, 0.1 mm to 4.5 mm for pore size, and 0.07 mm to 0.6 mm for pore opening size. The result of this study was applied to fabricate the desired Aluminum metal foams for the best sound absorption. The novel approach applied in this study, is expected to be successfully applied in for best sound absorption in desired frequencies.     

声学覆盖层吸声系数的多通道逆滤波测量

提出了一种利用最小二乘求逆计算的声学覆盖层吸声系数多通道逆滤波测量方法.该方法通过估计电路信道及水声信道的信道响应,利用最小二乘实现多通道逆滤波算法,通过多路逆信号的同步发射在声学覆盖层处实现高分辨率主瓣、低旁瓣和时域窄脉宽的入射波聚焦,从而提高声学覆盖层低频吸声系数的测量精度。仿真验证了该方法在混响抑制和空时聚焦中的效果.在压力水罐中进行了频率为0.8~5 kHz条件下的钢板试样反射系数和透射系数的测量实验,通过与理论计算值对比,验证了该测量方法的有效性。论文提出的方法适用于非自由场环境下声学覆盖层吸声系数的测量,尤其适用于低频条件下吸声系数的测量。      

Manufacturing and modelling of sintered micro-porous absorption material for low frequency applications

A novel sintering based method to produce thin ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, UHMWPE, absorption material layer to increase absorption at low frequencies is introduced. The experimental impedance tube measurement results show that a 4 mm thick sintered sample layer increases absorption at a low frequency range below 1000 Hz compared with commercial melamine and polyester absorption foam samples. To cover a wider frequency range, multilayer structures composed of a sintered micro-porous material layer and commercial melamine and polyester foam layers are created and examined. The sintered sample layer also increases absorption in multilayer structures at low frequencies. Absorption coefficient values above 0.5 are reached starting from 200 Hz with multilayer structures. Software exploiting Biot’s theory of porous materials has been adopted to fit the experimental absorption data for sintered samples, commercial foams and multilayers. Software based on Biot’s theory was found to deliver quite good correlation with measured absorption coefficient values, with disagreements below 10% between the measured and estimated values.     

Improvements to the Johnson–Allard model for rigid-framed fibrous materials

Measurements of the surface impedance and the physical parameters of seven glass wool samples and six polyester fibre samples with flow resistivities between 4100 and 69,900 Pa s m⁻² have been made. Comparisons of measured absorption coefficients and those predicted from the Johnson–Allard formulae using the measured and deduced physical parameters show discrepancies that exceed 20% for some samples and frequencies. By modifying the Johnson–Allard formula for effective density and by introducing a correction factor that is a function of flow resistivity based on data fitting, it has been found possible to improve the predictions. However, it has also been found that a similar modification of the formula for bulk modulus is necessary to reduce the discrepancies with data to below 5% in the frequency range between 800 Hz and 5 kHz.     

Effect of occupancy on acoustical conditions in university classrooms

Acoustical measurements were made in 12 university classrooms with and without occupants at Kangwon National University (KNU), Korea to investigate how the occupants influence the acoustical conditions of the classrooms. The mean sound absorption per occupant was calculated from the measured T₃₀ values and compared in two different groups of classrooms (6 reflective and 6 absorptive classrooms). At 250 and 500 Hz, the mean sound absorption per occupant was nearly the same for both groups of classrooms, but not in the other octave bands. The results showed that the effect of the added absorption of occupants is dependent on the acoustical conditions of the classroom. The changes in acoustical parameter values, due to added occupants in the classrooms, tended to be largest for the more reflective classrooms. The occupants may contribute to achieving more ideal reverberation times for speech (typically 0.4–0.7 s in classrooms) in the more reflective classrooms, but not in the more absorptive classrooms. A simple process is described to predict the expected effects of adding occupants to other classrooms based on the total sound absorption of unoccupied rooms.