Journal of Theoretical and Computational Acoustics

This study develops a new acoustic negative-refraction metamaterial that utilizes a synthesized double split hollow sphere (DSHS) for its unit cell. Recent relevant research has affirmed the concept that acoustic metamaterials can show unusual behavior that has not been observed in nature previously. However, as some hypothetical metamaterial designs have material properties not found in nature, the realization of practical metamaterials requires practical and complicated models. As a contribution to the development of acoustic metamaterials, the present study proposes a new anisotropic unit structure that encompasses Helmholtz resonators. This structure is referred to as the DSHS, is easy to manufacture, and has the advantage in that it uses the natural medium in its original form. By drawing the equifrequency or isofrequency contours of the designed two-dimensional (2D) anisotropic unit structure using the Floquet–Bloch’s principle, the properties of the present metamaterial can be understood. Numerical simulations are also conducted to identify and present the characteristics of the presented acoustic metamaterial. Through these, a new refraction phenomenon is identified that deviates from Snell’s law, and an acoustic hyperlens is numerically implemented that overcomes the diffraction limit.

The eigenfunctions of the modified Helmholtz operator have no orthogonality in a bounded domain with a perfectly matched layer (PML), which makes it difficult to calculate the coordinates under two different local bases when the marching algorithm is applied. In this paper, we derive the conjugate eigenfunctions of the operator and discuss the cross orthogonality between the eigenfunctions and their conjugate eigenfunctions. On the other hand, we derive a simple formula for calculating the coordinates under the local base. The numerical results indicate that this method is effective.

This paper investigates the effect of airfoil shape on trailing edge noise. The boundary layer profiles are obtained by XFOIL and the trailing edge noise is predicted by a TNO semi-empirical model. In order to investigate the noise source characteristics, the wall pressure spectrum is decomposed into three components. This decomposition helps in finding the dominant source region and the peak noise frequency for each airfoil. The method is validated for a NACA0012 airfoil, and then five additional wind turbine airfoils are examined: NACA0018, DU96-w-180, S809, S822 and S831. It is found that the dominant source region is around 40% of the boundary layer thickness for both the suction and pressure sides for a NACA0012 airfoil. As airfoil thickness and camber increase, the maximum source region moves slightly upward on the suction side. However, the effect of the airfoil shape on the maximum source region on the pressure side is negligible, except for the S831 airfoil, which exhibits an extension of the noise source region near the wall at high frequencies. As airfoil thickness and camber increase, low frequency noise is increased. However, a higher camber reduces low frequency noise on the pressure side. The maximum camber position is also found to be important and its rear position increases noise levels on the suction side.

Modeling for ultrasonic testing is an important tool in industrial sectors concerned with advanced inspection methods. A significant amount of effort has been directed to building hybrid methods, which try to encompass advantages of both asymptotic and numerical methods. In our work, we consider a hybrid coupling method based upon reciprocity relations. By deriving specific formulations for the incident and diffracted fields, we apply this strategy to the case of surface and near-surface flaws. We illustrate this coupling strategy in some canonical 2D and 3D ultrasonic testing configurations.

Isogeometric Analysis (IGA), which tries to bridge the gap between Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and Computer Aided Design (CAD), has been widely proposed in recent research. According to the concept of IGA, this work develops a boundary element method (BEM) using non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) as basis functions for the 2D half-space acoustic problems with absorbing boundary condition. Fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to accelerate the solution of an isogeometric BEM (IGA-BEM). Several examples are tested and it is shown that this advancement on isogeometric fast multipole boundary element method improves the accuracy of simulations.

It is known that the variable-order infinite acoustic wave envelope element (WEE) must be coupled with finite element method (FEM) by element matching for computing acoustic field radiated from radiators with complex geometric shapes. Therefore, the WEEs have to be reconstructed when the finite elements are refined or changed. To overcome the shortcoming, the element-free Galerkin (EFG) coupled with improved WEE (IWEE) method is presented to compute acoustic problems in the infinite domain. The continuity and compatibility of the acoustic pressure are maintained by IWEE that is composed of a standard WEE and a fictitious finite mesh. A key feature of the method is the introduction of the EFG method which is employed to eliminate the element matching and improve the accuracy of predicted acoustic pressure. The factors that affect the performance of the method are investigated by numerical examples, which include shape function construction, the weight function and the size of the influence domain. The numerical results show that the present method provides more accurate results compared to the coupled FEM-WEE method. The experimental results show that the method is very flexible for acoustic radiation prediction in the infinite domain.

The purpose of this study is to identify and quantify the difference in detections of a subsurface target from a subsurface sensor source between range-independent and range-dependent versions of the same acoustic propagation model. Environmental data were pulled from open source databases to provide an application for the comparison and using novel measures of merit, the authors were able to quantify the difference in detection performance between models. This study suggests that provided multiple types of environments are considered, it is possible to use a range-independent model to give good approximations to the accuracy of detections, one would achieve using a full range-dependent sound propagation model.

Sound pressure levels in rooms are determined by the energy of direct sound and the energy generated by reflections of sound from enclosures. In some areas of a room, the reflected sound energy exceeds the energy of the direct sound. For this reason, calculations of the energy characteristics of reflected sound energy are of great importance. In most rooms, the reflection of sound from enclosures has a specular-diffuse character. In this case, one part of the reflected energy transferred by specular reflected waves is distributed according to the laws of geometric acoustics, and the other part, scattered diffusely, according to Lambert’s law. The calculation of the specular component of the reflected energy is made by the methods of ray tracing, and the scattered energy is calculated by the statistical energy methods developed by the authors for the quasi-diffuse sound fields of the rooms. The basis of the latter methods is the relationship between the flux density of reflected sound energy and the density gradient of this energy. The accuracy of these methods depends on the accuracy of the adopted value of the coupling coefficient between the flux density and the density gradient of the reflected sound energy. Currently, there are different ideas about its magnitude. The paper presents the results of studies of coupling coefficients with regard to space-planning and acoustic characteristics of premises. The investigations were carried out using Kuttruff’s integral equation. Based on the results obtained, recommendations are given on the choice of the coupling coefficient.

Existing research shows that acoustic BG in a certain frequency range can be realized by installing an expansion chamber on duct system, but the problems of broadband and size limitations at low frequencies remain to be researched. The study of acoustic and elastic wave propagation in artificial periodic structures has received increasing attention for many decades, and the presence of bandgap (BG) in phononic crystals (PCs), which inhibits elastic/acoustic wave propagation within the BG’ frequency range, supplies a new way to control noise and vibrations in duct system. Based on PC theory, a duct silencer backed with a gas–liquid expansion chamber is proposed to enhance the acoustic performance of low-frequency noise attenuation. The transfer matrix method (TMM) is used to investigate the acoustic BG properties. The influences on the BG properties of some key parameters are analyzed, and the band formation mechanism is revealed by the law of energy conservation. The results show that silencers with a small size can effectively attenuate ultra-low frequencies and ultra-broad bands.

The characteristic acoustic impedance is a favorable observation variable for geoacoustic inversion (GI) owing to its higher sensitivity than that of pressure or particle velocity. However, no theoretical explanations have been provided for it. As an attempt to understand the underlying physical mechanism, interpretations based on the normal mode theory are conducted in this study. Moreover, synthetic Bayesian geoacoustic inversion with two recording scenarios of a vertical line array and single receiver are also performed, both of which proved that the impedance can provide improved estimation.