Joong Seok Lee

Optimal poroelastic layer sequencing for sound transmission loss maximization by topology optimization method.

Optimal layer sequencing of a multilayered acoustical foam is solved to maximize its sound transmission loss. A foam consisting of air and poroelastic layers can be optimized when a limited amount of a poroelastic material is allowed. By formulating the sound transmission loss maximization problem as a one-dimensional topology optimization problem, optimal layer sequencing and thickness were systematically found for several single and ranges of frequencies. For optimization, the transmission losses of air and poroelastic layers were calculated by the transfer matrix derived from Biots theory. By interpolating five intrinsic parameters among several poroelastic material parameters, distinct air-poroelastic layer distributions were obtained; no filtering or postprocessing was necessary. The optimized foam layouts by the proposed method were shown to differ depending on the frequency bands of interest.

Two-dimensional poroelastic acoustical foam shape design for absorption coefficient maximization by topology optimization method

Optimal shape design of a two-dimensional poroelastic acoustical foam is formulated as a topology optimization problem. For a poroelastic acoustical system consisting of an air region and a poroelastic foam region, two different physical regions are continuously changed in an iterative design process. To automatically account for the moving interfaces between two regions, we propose a new unified model to analyze the whole poroelastic acoustical foam system with one set of governing equations; Biots equations are modified with a material property interpolation from a topology optimization method. With the unified analysis model, we carry out two-dimensional optimal shape design of a poroelastic acoustical foam by a gradient-based topology optimization setting. The specific objective is the maximization of the absorption coefficient in low and middle ranges of frequencies with different amounts of a poroelastic material. The performances of the obtained shapes are compared with those of well-known wedge shapes, and the improvement of absorption is physically interpreted.

Metaporous layer to overcome the thickness constraint for broadband sound absorption

The sound absorption of a porous layer is affected by its thickness, especially in a low-frequency range. If a hard-backed porous layer contains periodical arrangements of rigid partitions that are coordinated parallel and perpendicular to the direction of incoming sound waves, the lower bound of the effective sound absorption can be lowered much more and the overall absorption performance enhanced. The consequence of rigid partitioning in a porous layer is to make the first thickness resonance mode in the layer appear at much lower frequencies compared to that in the original homogeneous porous layer with the same thickness. Moreover, appropriate partitioning yields multiple thickness resonances with higher absorption peaks through impedance matching. The physics of the partitioned porous layer, or the metaporous layer, is theoretically investigated in this study.

Broadband sound blocking in phononic crystals with rotationally symmetric inclusions

This paper investigates the feasibility of broadband sound blocking with rotationally symmetric extensible inclusions introduced in phononic crystals. By varying the size of four equally shaped inclusions gradually, the phononic crystal experiences remarkable changes in its band-stop properties, such as shifting/widening of multiple Bragg bandgaps and evolution to resonance gaps. Necessary extensions of the inclusions to block sound effectively can be determined for given incident frequencies by evaluating power transmission characteristics. By arraying finite dissimilar unit cells, the resulting phononic crystal exhibits broadband sound blocking from combinational effects of multiple Bragg scattering and local resonances even with small-numbered cells.

Topology Optimization of an Acoustic Diffuser Considering Reflected Sound Field

The main role of an acoustic diffuser is to diffuse reflected sound field spatially. Since the pioneering work of Schroeder, there have been investigations to improve its performance by using shape/sizing optimization methods. In this paper, a gradient-based topology optimization algorithm is newly presented to find the optimal distribution of reflecting materials for maximizing diffuser performance. Time-harmonic acoustic analysis in a two-dimensional acoustic domain is carried out where the domain is discretized by finite elements. Perfectly matched layers are placed to surround the domain to simulate non-reflecting boundary conditions. Design variables are assigned to each element of which material properties are interpolated between those of air and those of a rigid body. An approach to extract the reflected field from the total acoustic field is employed. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, design problems are solved at different frequencies. The performance of the optimized diffusers obtained by the proposed method is compared against that of the conventional Schroeder diffusers.