A method to calculate the acoustic response of a thin, baffled, simply supported poroelastic plate.

Abstract

The Helmholtz integral equation formulation is used to produce the solution for the acoustic field reflected from a finite, thin, poroelastic plate in a rigid baffle with simply supported edges. The acoustic properties of the porous material are predicted using the effective fluid assumption. The solutions for the displacement of the plate and for the loading acoustic pressures are given in the form of the sine transform. The sine transform coefficients are obtained from the solution of a system of linear equations resulting from three integral Helmholtz formulations which relate the displacement of the plate and the acoustic pressures on the front and on the back of the plate. The effect of an air gap behind the plate in the front of a rigid wall is also considered. A parametric study is performed to predict the effect of variations in the parameters of the poroelastic plate. It is shown that thin, light, poroelastic plates can provide high values of the acoustic absorption even for low frequency sound. This effect can be exploited to design compact noise control systems with improved acoustic performance.