Optimal porous media designs through

parametric studies
Abhilash Sreekumar
Februrary 2021

Contents
1 Mixed displacement-pressure formulation for poro-elastic me-
dia 1

2 Parameter modelling 3

3 Supports 3

4 Excitations 4

5 Multilayer configurations 5

6 Mesoscale inclusions 5

7 Transient and stochastic excitations 6

8 Sensitivity analysis 6

1 Mixed displacement-pressure formulation for

poro-elastic media
The governing equations for acoustic wave propagation through a poroelastic
medium is described by the Biot (u-p) formulation:

div(σ s ) + ω 2 ρ̃u = −γ̃∇p (1a)

∆p p
+ ω2 = ω 2 γ̃div(u) (1b)
ρ̃eq K̃eq

where u denotes the displacements of the solid skeleton and p, the pore-fluid
pressure. These equations are rearranged and mapped to the time domain via

1
Parameter Description Value Units
σs in-vacuo stress tensor N · m−2
εs infinitesimal strain tensor -
E Young’s modulus N · m−2
ν Poisson’s ratio -
ηs (ω) structural loss factor -
D̃ elastic constitutive tensor N · m−2
ρ̃ modified Biot density kg · m−3
ρ̃eq dynamic mass density kg · m−3
k̃eq dynamic bulk modulus N · m−2
γ̃ coupling factor -
ω angular frequency rad · s−1
φ porosity -
ρs solid skeleton-material density kg · m−3
ρ0 air density at rest 1.2042 kg · m−3
ρ1 solid skeleton-frame density kg · m−3
Kb porous skeleton bulk modulus at constant pressure N · m−2
Ks solid skeleton-material bulk modulus N · m−2
Kf fluid bulk modulus N · m−2
σ static airflow resistivity N · s · m−4
α∞ high frequency limit of dynamic tortuosity −
Λ viscous characteristic length m
Λ0 thermal characteristic length m
k00 static thermal permeability m2
cair speed of sound in air 343.377 m · s−1
zair impedance of air 413.4807 kg · m−2 · s−1
P0 atmospheric pressure 101,325 N · m−2
Cp specific heat of fluid at constant pressure 1.0024 × 103 J · kg −1
η dynamic viscosity 1.8214 × 10−5 N · s · m−2
γ adiabatic index 1.4012 −
α sound absorption coefficient -
T sound transmission loss coefficient -
κ thermal conductivity 0.0257 W · m−1 · K −1
k wave number of acoustic excitation m−1

Table 1: Material parameters used in the Biot u − p formulation.

2
an inverse Fourier transform:
   
K̃ − ω 2 M̃ − C̃ + S̃
   u
    û = fp (2)
−ω 2 C̃T + S̃T H̃ + jω Ã − ω 2 Q̃ p̂ f ,

All material parameters involved in this formalism are given in Table 1.

2 Parameter modelling

Figure 1: Flowchart describing the material parameters involved

The computation of model parameters from the physical parameters is shown

in Fig. 1. The four elastic skeleton parameters and six porous media macroscopic
parameters completely characterize a poroelastic media.

3 Supports
Fig. 2 illustrates a classical impedance tube configuration. A poroelastic ma-
terial (PE) is placed inside and has roller supports on lateral edges (known in
acoustic literature as sliding boundaries). Impedance tube experimental setups
for a sample of lateral dimension L and thickness h typically consider L >> h.
As it is not possible to model infinite/semi-infinite domains with traditional
methods like FEA, one requires a periodic Floquet-Bloch constraint. This con-
dition imposes equality of pressures and normal velocities of the pore-fluid and
the normal displacements of the solid skeleton between lateral faces Γ2 and Γ4 .
Alternately, the roller supports shown in the figure behave as good approxima-
tions to this periodic boundary condition requirement, especially in situations
where no wave reflection is expected off the lateral faces.

3
 Figure 2: Impedance tube configuration

Two kinds of boundary conditions are considered for the rear face Γ3 . The
first is a clamped support (known in acoustical literature as rigid backing) and is
interpreted as a sample with an infinitely rigid and motionless plate for support.
In this case, the phenomena observed are restricted to absorption and reflection
only. This is the configuration used in studying the sound absorption behaviour
of a material. This is enforced as:

u = 0 on Γu , on Γ3 , (3)

This is experimentally studied through recording loudness levels at two points

within the impedance tube, using microphones.
The second support is a Robin type boundary condition. This is a combina-
tion of Dirichlet and Neumann boundaries and is called an impedance boundary
condition in acoustical literature. It is interpreted as an anechoic termination,
i.e., the impedance at Γ3 should be equal to the impedance of the surrounding
medium, i.e. air. This is done mathematically as

z(θ)∇p · n + jω ρ̃eq p = 0 on Γ3 , (4)

where z(θ) = zair /cos(θ) where θ denotes the angle of incidence of an incoming
excitation source with the incident face.
The term ”anechoic termination” might be a little misleading, as an ane-
choic wedge allows for a gradual variation in impedance, to minimize reflection.
However, in this Robin boundary, reflections can and will occur at Γ3 due to
a sudden impedance mismatch. This is physical. This configuration is used to
study sound transmission behaviour of a material.
This is done experimentally by recording the loudness levels at one point
within the tube and a second point outside the tube, i.e. to the right of Γ3 .

4 Excitations
In our work so far, we consider only plane wave excitations. This is an acceptable
approximation, as more realistic acoustic sources, such as spherical wavefronts,

4
Figure 3: A plane wave incident at angle θ . Taken from Edwin Reynders,
KU Leuven, Department of Civil Engineering, No2Noise short course December
2019

can be decomposed into a series of plane waves. This is imposed on Γ1 as a

Dirichlet pressure boundary condition:

p = p̄e−jk·x on Γ1 , (5)

This is illustrated in Fig. 3.

A second excitation type, called a Diffuse-field excitation is composed of
several plane waves incident at different angles θ ∈ [−π/2, π/2]. The net ab-
sorption/transmission behaviour is computed in a statistical sense, i.e., a mean
of the responses for each angle of incidence.

5 Multilayer configurations
Poroelastic materials generally exhibit reduced sound absorption properties at
low excitation frequencies. This is due to a mismatch between the sample thick-
ness and large wavelengths encountered at these frequencies. Multilayer systems
are often deployed to improve the low frequency behaviour. Similarly, multi-
layer configurations are also designed to improve sound transmission properties
as well. An example configuration is illustrated in Fig. 4.
The number of layers used and the material constituting each layer is critical
in optimizing absorption and transmission behaviour under different excitation
and support conditions. This is the primary objective of Vivek’s work in [2].

6 Mesoscale inclusions
Alternative solutions to remedy the above limitations of porous media are ex-
plored in the form of double porosity materials, porous composites and em-
bedded inclusions. An example of a rigid porous media with infinitely rigid
cylindrical inclusions is shown in Fig. 5.

5
Figure 4: A multilayer configuration designed to improve sound transmission
loss

The location, size, number and material of the inclusions can significantly
alter the performance of the material. This has been studied in [1].

7 Transient and stochastic excitations

The amplitude, phase and angle of incidence of the acoustic excitation may
vary with time. Alternately, the excitation can be a time varying stochastic
excitation, such as white noise. These problems necessitates a time domain
analysis of the sample being studied. This can be achieved using the fractional
calculus based approach developed by us.

8 Sensitivity analysis
Based on the previous sections, I now do a sensitivity analysis for the parameters
summarized in Table 2.

References
[1] Groby, J.-P., Dazel, O., Duclos, A., Boeckx, L. and Kelders, L. [2011],
‘Enhancing the absorption coefficient of a backed rigid frame porous layer
by embedding circular periodic inclusions’, The Journal of the Acoustical
Society of America 130(6), 3771–3780.
[2] Ramamoorthy, V. T., Özcan, E., Parkes, A. J., Luc, J. and Bécot, F.-
X. [2019], ‘Metaheuristic optimisation of sound absorption performance of
multilayered porous materials’.

6
Figure 5: A 2 cm thick domain with a single infinitely rigid circular inclusion
of radius 7.5 mm, per unit cell. Unit cell repeats periodically in the vertical
direction with period 2 cm.

Parameter Vary 1 Vary 2

Material 4 Elastic 6 Porous acoustic
1
parameters parameters parameters
Rigid backing
2 Supports
Anechoic termination
Harmonic
Incident angles
3 Excitation Time varying
Diffuse field
Stochastic
4 Multilayer Number of layers Material of each layer
Rigid
Size
Porous
5 Mesoscale inclusion Location
Air
Periodicity/Aperiodic
Elastic

Table 2: Summary of parameters to be investigated