ON THE ACOUSTIC ABSORPTION OF MULTI-LAYER ABSORBERS WITH DIFFERENT INNER STRUCTURES

A rigorous finite element analysis procedure is developed to study the effect of the inner structures on the acoustic absorption of multi-layer absorbers. To do this, four types of basic inner structure compartments adopted in the multi-layer absorbers are selected for analysis. These compartments are composed of porous materials inlaid with perforated plates of various shapes, say, triangle, semicircle, convex rectangle and plate shapes. As it is different from the conventional finite element analysis for the acoustic system in the literature, the perforated plates are simulated by appropriate equivalent boundary conditions, depending on their thickness, hole radius, hole pitch and porosity and the air contained in the holes. A large number of total degrees of freedom generated from meshing the air in the holes of perforated plates are thus avoided. The results reveal that the inner structures of the multi-layer absorbers will influence the acoustic absorption at some frequency bands significantly. Based on those features, the multi-layer absorber with a novel inner structure is then designed and manufactured. Both the finite element and experimental results show that its acoustic absorption would be distinctly promoted.