Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Realization of a thin and broadband Microperforated panel (MPP) sound

absorber
Iwan Prasetiyo a,⇑, Indra Sihar a,b, Anugrah Sabdono Sudarsono a
a
Engineering Physics, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Ganesa Street 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
b
Department of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Microperforated panel (MPP) absorber progress has continued with various configurations for a relatively
Received 10 December 2020 narrow bandwidth. Serial, parallel, and a combination of serial and parallel (hybrid) configurations of
Received in revised form 1 July 2021 MPPs have been proposed to address the bandwidth problem, and experimental results agree well with
Accepted 5 July 2021
theoretical ones. However, considerable space is still required, particularly at low frequencies, because of
Available online 20 July 2021
the presence of a backing air cavity. This drawback has limited MPP applications for low-frequency noise
control, where longer cavity depths are required. Therefore, in this study, a coiling structure was intro-
Microperforated panel (MPP) sound
duced on the backing air cavity to obtain a thinner MPP for the same targeted operating frequency.
absorber
Parallel MPP configuration
Moreover, a parallel configuration consisting of several sub-MPPs was utilized to excite multiple reso-
Thin and broadband MPP nances to obtain an overall wider absorption bandwidth. Minute holes were applied to avoid the consid-
Coiled backing cavity erable dips that are generally present in such a configuration. Thin and broadband MPPs were developed,
and theoretical and experimental results are provided.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction conducted using simulated annealing, as proposed by Ruiz et al.

Microperforated panel (MPP) sound absorbers have a relatively
narrow absorption bandwidth of an approximately one- to two-
octave frequency band [1]. Such a narrow absorption bandwidth is
a consequence of the inherent Helmholtz resonator mechanism dur-
ing the absorption of incoming sound waves. The MPP absorption
bandwidth is wider than that of other resonance-type absorbers.
However, the two-octave frequency band absorption still limits
applications, although MPPs have been considered as the basis for
next-generation absorbers [2–4]. In addition, the presence of a back-
ing cavity, which should be proportional to a quarter of the working
wavelength, has further constrained the applications of MPPs. The
low-frequency absorption results in a bulky MPP system.
Previous research, such as that by Maa [5], has shown that serial
MPP configurations can extend the absorption bandwidth. Further
developments of serial configurations can be found — for example,
the use of wave theory instead of the electro-acoustical equivalent
circuit for the absorption analysis of multiple MPPs [6].
Optimization to the best combination of multiple-layer MPPs was
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: i.prasetiyo@fti.itb.ac.id (I. Prasetiyo), anugrah@tf.itb.ac.id
(A.S. Sudarsono).
[7]. Bucciarelli et al. [8] used five-layer MPPs to ensure an absorp-
tion system performance greater than 90% over a wideband fre-
quency. In the context of material and manufacturing technology,
additive manufacturing has been employed to produce MPP layers
[9]. Permeable membranes or fabrics are also applicable [10–12].
Despite this, more space is needed when several layers of sub-
MPPs with different perforation properties and backing air cavities
are combined. In practice, this can be a disadvantage because of
space limitations. Alternatively, parallel configurations of MPPs
have been proposed to widen the absorption bandwidth. In a par-
allel configuration, two or more sub-MPPs or an array of MPPs are
placed on the same panel or surface [13–15]. This type of system is
also known as an ‘‘inhomogeneous perforation MPP” [16,17]. This
configuration can save space compared with the serial configura-
tion, but the presence of inter-resonator interactions can shift the
resonance frequencies of the MPP [13]. This interaction becomes
more complicated as the number of sub-MPPs increases. Hence,
parallel configurations should be handled with great care, e.g.,
using the optimization method.
Different approaches to enhance the absorption bandwidth
have been used based on a hybrid MPP structure [18] where the
serial and parallel MPP configurations are combined. The number
of MPP layers in a serial configuration can be reduced by
employing a parallel configuration for similar performance.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2021.108295
0003-682X/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295

However, the intrinsic problem of MPPs for low frequency absorp- where J0ð1Þ is the Bessel function of zeroth (first) order,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
tion is still persistent because of the total backing cavity required k ¼ d xq0 =4g, d is the pore diameter, x is the angular frequency,
for such a configuration. Consequently, the use of a single-layer q0 is the air density, g is the dynamic viscosity of air, t is the panel
MPP should be a more natural choice, where only a single cavity
thickness, / ¼ pd =4b is the perforation ratio, and b is the center-
2 2
is needed. For the single-layer case, Maa [1] found that a wider
to-center hole distance. For any value of k including kvalues
absorption bandwidth is possible for a single-layer MPP by using
between 1 and 10, the MPP impedance (Z) can be approximated as
minute holes with diameters approximately 0.1–0.3 mm. As the
pore diameter was reduced to less than 100lm, the bandwidth Z ¼ r þ jxm ; ð2Þ
extension of four octaves was obtained, as demonstrated experi- 0"
mentally by Qian et al. [19]. All these efforts, of course, require a
#
2 1=2
pffiffiffi 1
32gt @ k 2 dA
specific fabrication technology to combine a very-small-diameter r¼ 1þ þ k ð2aÞ
/q0 cd
2 32 32 t
perforation with a very small distance between holes. Neverthe-
less, such a concept is worth investigating further to avoid addi-
0 " # 1
tional space because of the use of multilayer MPPs, i.e., by 2 1=2
xt @ k dA
utilizing the benefit of a parallel configuration as well as minute xm ¼ 1þ 1þ þ 0:85 ð2bÞ
/c 2 t
holes that are acceptable for fabrication techniques.
A thinner sound absorber is achieved when the total absorber
where r and xm are the MPP resistance and reactance, respectively.
thickness is smaller than a quarter of the wavelength of the sound
As a sound absorber, the MPP system is usually combined with a
wave, and this is preferable for low-frequency sound absorption.
backing cavity to compensate for the MPP reactance (imaginary
The MPP has the potential to satisfy such a requirement if the back-
part). The impedance of the MPP system is given by
ing air cavity, which is governed by the depth of the cavity, is mod-
ified by adopting coiling structures. Since its introduction by Liang Z MPP ¼ Z þ Z D
and Li [20], the coiled structure concept has become attractive
because it provides versatility in wave manipulations, such as nega- Z D  jcotðk0 DÞ
tive refraction [21,22], one-way transmission [23], and zone-plate
whereZ D , k0 , and D are the backing cavity impedance, acoustic
focusing [24].
wavenumber, and backing air cavity depth, respectively. For normal
Some progress on coiled implementations for sound absorber
sound incidence, the sound absorption coefficient (a) is defined as
systems has been made, and most were developed based on Helm-
holtz resonator (HR) and Fabry–Pérot (FP) resonator [25–27]. 4RefZ g
Recent studies have shown that the coiled channels are useful for
a0 ¼ 2 2
: ð3Þ
ð1 þ RefZ gÞ þ ðImfZ g  cotk0 DÞ
realizing a subwavelength structure in panel and MPP absorbers
[28–30]. Furthermore, Wu et al. [31] and Li et al. [32] developed From Eq. (3), it is evident that the maximum sound absorption
an MPP with a coiling backing cavity to have a thin and relatively (a0;max ) exists when ImfZ g  cot ðk0 DÞ ¼ 0. This yields
wider low-frequency absorption bandwidth. A similar approach 4RefZ g
was also demonstrated by Liu et al. [33] in which a single HR a0;max ¼ : ð4Þ
ð1 þ RefZ gÞ2
and MPP defined as a unit cell were compared, while the broad-
band characteristics were obtained by using more MPP cells. In As the frequency progresses, the imaginary part can create mul-
that work, a wider sound absorption bandwidth was obtained tiple resonance frequencies f 0 whenever ImfZ g  cot ðk0 DÞ ¼ 0 is
using 12 parallel configurations of the MPP structure with submil- satisfied.
limeter perforations.
In this article, a different structure is proposed for a thin and 2.2. Coiled structures in parallel configuration
broadband MPP that is suitable for low frequency absorption pur-
poses. The proposed structures differ from the other structures by The parallel configuration puts different sub-MPPs on the same
adopting a coiling structure for the backing air cavity as well as a panel, as shown in Fig. 1(a). If the cavity depth is the same for all
minute-hole perforation MPP layer under a parallel configuration. sub-MPPs, then the configuration is a conventional parallel config-
Moreover, by maintaining a homogenous perforation, the proposed uration. However, it requires a more complicated structure,
structures are tuned solely by the air cavity depth parameters. The- because the air cavity must be portioned to enable each sub-MPP
oretical and parametric studies were performed, and the associated to work independently. Otherwise, the sub-MPP works as a single
results are discussed. Moreover, experiments were conducted to MPP owing to the averaging of the panel impedance. With such a
validate the concept. configuration, it is reasonable to assume that the non-resonating
sub-MPP can be regarded as a non-perforating rigid wall, while
2. Theory most sound absorption exists because of the resonating sub-MPP.
In general, the MPP configuration can be represented by an
2.1. Basic formulation equivalent electro-acoustic circuit [5,37]. For the case of parallel
configuration as shown in Fig. 1(b), the total surface impedance
Maa [1] proposed an approximate formula to calculate the is expressed as
acoustic impedance of an MPP panel following the formulation of !1
sound propagation in a tube by Rayleigh [34] and Crandall [35]. X
q
ai
Z MPP ¼ ; ð5Þ
The end correction of the MPP pores modeled as piston sound radi- i¼1
Z MPPi
ation at the pores was also applied based on the formulation by
Morse and Ingard [36]. The MPP impedance (Z) can be written as where Z MPPi ¼ ri þ jxmi þ Z Di is the surface impedance of sub-MPP-i,
ai ¼ Ai =AT is the area ratio of sub-MPP-i, and AT is the total area of
2  pffi 31 the panel. The coiling backing cavity of the MPP can be useful for
Dp q0 t 4 2 J1 k j 5 qd reducing the total thickness of the MPP. With the cavity dimensions
Z
 ¼ jx 1  pffi  pffi   j0:85x 0 ; ð1Þ
v / k j J0 k j / of each MPP significantly smaller than the operating sound
wavelength, the air cavity of the MPP can be coiled with a specific
2
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
Fig. 1. (a) Conventional parallel configuration of the MPP system and (b) associated equivalent electro-acoustic circuit model.
orientation, while Maa’s formulation still holds. For a simple
approach, the coiled cavity is only applied on the sub-MPP with
the longest air cavity, while the others remain straight. In the other
case, where three sub-MPPs or more are used, the proposed struc-
ture permits other cavities to be coiled except the shortest one to
ensure that the combination of all absorption spectra can produce
a wider absorption bandwidth overall.
Fig. 2(a) shows the basic structure of the coiled parallel struc-
tures of the MPP. For simplicity, the perforations of the sub-MPPs
are the same, where the widths of each sub-MPP are L1 and L2 ,
respectively. Hence, the designated resonance frequencies of
MPP-1 and MPP-2 are governed by cavities D1 and D2 , where the
air cavity of MPP-1 is coiled, as shown in Fig. 2(b). Compared with
the conventional MPP or another parallel MPP system, the total-
cavity thickness D is equal to summation of D2 , d2 and t 0
ðD ¼ D2 þ d2 þ t0 Þ by which a thin MPP can be realized when
D < k=4 is satisfied. Moreover, the coiled cavity of MPP-1 suggest
that D1 is related with the effective cavity depth which is approx-
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
L 2  2ffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
L 2 
imately, D1  2
1
þ D  L21 þ 2
2
þ d2  L21 . By keeping
L1 and L2 are smaller than D1 and D2 , the resonance absorption
characteristics are governed by the cavity depths and parallel
absorption mechanisms can sustain. In this work, the unit cell is
defined as a system consisting of two parallel MPPs, as indicated
in Fig. 2(c).
Fig. 2. Coiled parallel structure of MPP: (a) 3D-coiled structure, (b) schematic of coiled parallel MPP, and (c) definition of unit cell in a periodic arrangement.
Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295
2.3. Pressure distribution characteristics of coiled backing cavity
Fig. 3 presents the absorption coefficients of the coiled parallel
MPP obtained by Maa’s formula with dimensions of
L1 ¼ L2 ¼ 29:7mm, D2 ¼ 75 mm, andd2 ¼ 82:5 mm (see Fig. 2).
The MPP-1 properties were equal to MPP-2 ones with dimensions
of d = 0.32 mm, t ¼ 0:9 mm, and / ¼0.0201. With the perforation
and geometrical properties, the first and second resonance absorp-
tion are pronounced around 317 Hz and 568 Hz. To study the char-
acteristics of the pressure distribution in the coiled backing cavity
associated with those resonance absorptions, the same structure
was simulated using the finite-element method (FEM) and imple-
mented using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6 [38]. The system was
modeled using the pressure acoustics module in the frequency
domain for a 3D geometry with a square section area. A waveguide
with a length of 0.85 m was given to mimic the impedance tube
measurement in front of the MPP panel. The entire domain was
discretized with the maximum element length set by the mini-
2 mum wavelength divided by six. The MPP was defined as an inte-
rior impedance boundary condition according to Eqs. (2a)–(2b),
while the other surfaces were set to acoustically rigid walls.
In Fig. 4, the pressure distributions inside the cavity are dis-
played for both absorption peaks. Blue indicates the minimum
absolute pressure, whereas red–dark-red indicates higher absolute
3
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
Fig. 3. Absorption coefficients obtained by theoretical calculation for the coiled-
parallel MPP.
acoustic pressures. It is clear that the fundamental cavity mode is
present in the coiled backing cavity, designated as cavity depth 1,
as shown in Fig. 4(a). Similarly, a fundamental cavity mode is seen
in cavity depth 2, which is a straight tube, as shown in Fig. 4(b).
This shows that the original MPP formulation is applicable for this
coiled structure, while space can be saved as a result of the coiling
backing cavity. Moreover, using the same perforation for all MPPs
in the parallel configuration can reduce the complexity of MPP
structures and associated manufacturing processes compared with
those found in inhomogeneous perforations [16,17]. Hence, the
proposed structures are expected to be more relevant in practice.
3. Parametric studies
In this section, the main parameters are varied to assess their
effect on absorption characteristics on different frequency. For this,
normal sound absorption coefficients are plotted again frequency
where the range has been set from 125 Hz to 2 kHz to be more con-
sistent. We consider this frequency range as all behavior of the
MPP under consideration have been sufficiently covered up; higher
frequency does not have specific behavior and only relevant for the
occurrence of multiple peaks as a consequence of cot ðk0 DÞ or cav-
ity modes.
3.1. Minute-Hole effect on absorption bandwidth
To obtain insight into the influence of the minute hole on the
absorption bandwidth characteristics, the hole diameter was var-
ied from 0.1 to 0.3 mm. Moreover, this was compared with a
Fig. 4. Pressure distribution of coiled cavity for associated absorption coefficients: (a) pressure distribution of cavity depth 1 with a coiled channel and (b) pressure
distribution of cavity depth 2.
4
Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295
greater hole diameter, which was 0.5 and 0.9 mm, under a given
perforation ratio. The half-absorption bandwidth was used as the
primary indicator, while perforation ratios smaller and greater
than 1% were considered.
Fig. 5(a) shows a sound absorption spectrum comparison for a
perforation ratio of 0.79% with cavity depths of 237 and 60 mm.
It is clear that the minute holes can produce a wider absorption
bandwidth without experiencing a dip in the sound absorption
curve due to the combination of the resonances of the sub-MPPs,
as shown by that of the 0.5- and 0.9-mm hole diameters for the
same frequency range (less than700 Hz). It was found that an
absorption coefficient difference of 0.2 to 0.4 between the peaks
and the dip can exist for a greater hole diameter. Such a situation
was also seen in the greater-perforation-ratio case, which was set
to 1.54%, as shown in Fig. 5(b). In this case, greater dips were also
observed for greater hole diameters of approximately 0.3 and 0.4
difference compared with the minute hole, which was only
approximately 0.1. Moreover, a wide absorption bandwidth was
present for minute holes with a higher absorption coefficient. Com-
pared with the case of a 0.79% perforation ratio, the absorption
coefficient increases as the overall acoustic resistance in this case
is close to 1 because of the use of a greater perforation ratio that
can compensate for the hole diameter reduction. Considering the
two cases, it is clear that the use of minute holes is beneficial to
avoid a considerable dip in the parallel configuration in order to
attain a wide absorption bandwidth. In practice, such a potential
benefit may not be feasible because of the difficulty in fabricating
a very small hole diameter. Hence, more acceptable minute holes
(i.e., d = 0.3 mm) can be used as an initial effort to incorporate such
a hole in the MPP system.
3.2. Cavity depth combination under fixed thickness
With a fixed cavity thickness D of the MPP, D2 was varied so
that D1 changed accordingly. This is useful when the total thick-
ness is constrained, while the change in behavior is important to
meet certain requirements. Considering the cavity of D1 and D2 is
back to back each other (see Fig. 2 (b)), the change of D1 cavity will
affect that of D2 cavity accordingly and on the other way around.
The resulting behavior is shown in Fig. 6. The cavity depth combi-
nation can change the sound absorption behavior, particularly at
frequencies between consecutive peaks where more flat sound
absorption is present as the cavity depth increases. Although the
total thickness of the MPP remains, the MPP performance can be
tuned further using the coiled cavity depth. Such a feature is absent
in conventional MPPs, where a different thickness is required to
accommodate the change in cavity depth.
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
Fig. 5. Effect of hole diameter under a given perforation ratio that is smaller or greater than 1% with respect to absorption bandwidth: (a) perforation ratio of 0.79% and (b)
perforation ratio of 1.54%
Fig. 6. Combinations of cavity depth for each MPP to obtain particular absorption
coefficient with different D2/D1 ratio with fixed cavity thickness D (d = 0.28,
b = 2 mm, D = 156.6 mm).
Fig. 7 shows the relationship between the cavity depth ratio and
sound absorption spectra, which is useful for the design process of
the proposed structure. By picking a targeted minimum absorption
coefficient over a relatively wide frequency range, the cavity depth
ratio can be determined. For example, D2 =D1  0.3 is applicable for
obtaining minimum absorption coefficients amin ¼ 0:9 over a par-
ticular frequency range covering successive peaks, while a lower
ratio leads to lower minimum sound absorption coefficients (see
Fig. 7a). Such a relationship exists for a fixed cavity thickness D.
Moreover, the ratio selection can affect the absorption bandwidth,
where a lower ratio can extend the bandwidth, but lower absorp-
tion coefficients are pronounced. Similarly, such behavior is
observed for different perforation parameters, as shown in Fig. 7
(b), where a larger pore diameter is used (d ¼ 0:32 mm).
3.3. Varying total thickness with a constant ratio of D2 to D1
With a constant D2 =D1 ratio, the contribution of each cavity to
the total thickness can be assessed. In this example, a ratio of
0.3369 and d = 0.28 mm are used where sound absorption greater
than 0.85, over a wide frequency range, can be expected. When D2
is set as 60 mm, the total cavity thickness D is approximately
115 mm, where D1 is approximately 178 mm, and the half-sound
absorption appears at 150 Hz, as shown in Fig. 8. As the cavity
5
Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295
depth D2 decreases, the half-sound absorption starts at a higher
frequency, as demonstrated by the 40- and 20-mm cavity depth
cases, which correspond to D1 of 118.7 and 59.4 mm, respectively.
Such a situation leads to a thinner MPP, although conventional
MPPs exhibit identical behavior. However, the proposed structure
can offer space savings of approximately 35%–39% compared with
the conventional MPP.
3.4. Area ratio of Sub-MPP influence
The sound absorption behavior of the proposed structure can be
changed by changing the area ratio of MPP-1 and MPP-2. As the
actual structure can be in the form of repetition of the proposed
structure, it is instructive to look at the sound absorption behavior
resulting from the different area ratios used between the MPPs on
the same surface panels. As shown in Eq. (5), the area ratio is
defined as ai ¼ Ai =AT , where Ai is the area of sub-MPP-i, and AT is
the total area of the panel.
The combination of each MPP’s behavior with the same perfora-
tion parameter and cavity depth configuration can lead to different
characteristics, as shown in Fig. 9. Typically, a ratio of 50% or equal
area is used for each MPP, where the perforation parameters of
each MPP have been tuned to produce maximum absorption
[13,15,16,38]. Under such a circumstance, two prominent peaks
were present. However, gradual reduction introduced to one of
them changed the absorption behavior, as indicated by the cases
of [25%, 75%], [75%, 25%], and [65%, 35%] area ratio. The first peak
reduced as the area ratio of MPP 1 decreased because of the higher
resistance. In contrast, the second peak increased to almost a = 1,
indicating that the optimal resistance (or r ¼ 1) is satisfied under
such a situation. Similar behavior was observed in other cases. This
result suggests that the overall absorption behavior can still be
tuned to meet the targeted absorption characteristics by using dif-
ferent area ratios, particularly when the perforation and cavity
parameters cannot be further changed owing to particular con-
straints, e.g., a fixed thickness or the availability of coiling space.
4. Finite geometry and periodic effect on sound absorption
behavior
In practice, the coiled structure of a parallel MPP can be
arranged over a designated surface to absorb the incoming sound.
To investigate the periodic effect of MPP cells over an area, a
numerical model using the FEM was employed. A unit cell is
defined as two sub-MPPs arranged in a parallel configuration, as
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
Fig. 7. Sound absorption behavior of a particular case with fixed thickness and various cavity depth ratios: (a) d = 0.28 and b = 2 mm and (b) d = 0.32 mm and b = 2 mm.
Fig. 8. Sound absorption comparison for a constant ratio of D2 =D1 with d = 0.28 mm
(minute hole).
Fig. 9. Sound absorption comparison for different absorption area ratios with fixed
cavity thickness D and cavity depth of each MPP while related configurations are
denoted by configurations (A), (B), (C), and (D).
6
Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295
shown in Fig. 2. The given numerical setting is the same as that
presented in Section 2.3, with the waveguide walls set to periodic
boundary conditions instead of acoustically rigid walls to have a
periodic arrangement. Moreover, the effect of the micro-
perforations of the MPP is modeled as equivalent acoustic impe-
dance in Eq. (2). A similar modeling procedure was also imple-
mented by Wang and Huang [13]. Alternatively, the viscous-
thermal effect in the pores can be taken into account in the model
using the thermoacoustic modeling procedure [26,39].
The periodic effect can be attributed to the Bragg reflection that
is present near f b;n ¼ nc=2dp (n is an integer) [40], where dp is the
periodic distance (or lattice distance), particularly for grazing inci-
dence. For the case of normal incidence, the finite geometry of the
unit cell can affect the absorption behavior as shown in Fig. 10 (a)
as results of effective cavity depth D1 change while the periodic
case of each unit cell indicates different behaviors around the
off-resonance absorption compared with single-cell particularly
owing to the influence of other cells besides the remaining sub-
MPP within the same cell. The difference increases with the
increasing of unit cell dimensions as shown in Fig. 10 (b)-(d). Apart
from that, the results are similar. This suggests that sound absorp-
tion validation on single-unit cell absorption is sufficient to vali-
date the concept.
5. Experiments
5.1. Coiled structure configurations
We consider two cases of structural configuration to validate
the proposed concept which are designated as Case I and Case II.
Case I consisted of two MPPs arranged in a parallel configuration.
The geometrical properties of each MPP are listed in Table 1 and
the associated structure is shown in Fig. 11. The two MPPs were
identical except for the cavity depth. The total width of the struc-
ture was 60 mm; therefore, the width of each MPP was equal to the
total width divided by the number of sub-MPPs. MPP 1 was set to
have a longer cavity depth, which was 240 mm with an effective
depth of approximately 222.6 mm because of the coiling structure,
while that of MPP 2 was 75 mm with a straight orientation.
More MPPs were used for case II, where three different MPPs
were arranged in parallel; the parameters are shown in the same
table, while the structure is shown in Fig. 11(b). For all cases, t0
is set to 2 mm. Considering the discussion in Section 3.1, the use
of minute holes can enable the MPP system to avoid a considerable
dip in the absorption curve; thus, all MPPs for cases I and II used
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295

Fig. 10. (a) sound absorption of different L unit cell; (b) Sound absorption comparison between single and periodic unit cells with L = 20 mm; (c) Sound absorption
comparison between single and periodic unit cells with L = 60 mm; (d) Sound absorption comparison between single and periodic unit cells with L = 80 mm.

Table 1
Geometrical properties of MPP for cases I and II.

Case I
MPP-n d (mm) b (mm) t (mm) Dn (mm)
MPP-1 0.3 ± 0.01 2 0.9 222.6
MPP-2 0.3 ± 0.01 2 0.9 75
Case II
MPP-n d (mm) b (mm) t (mm) Dn (mm)
MPP-1 0.3 ± 0.01 2 0.9 198.4
MPP-2 0.3 ± 0.01 2 0.9 60
MPP-3 0.3 ± 0.01 2 0.9 20

the same perforation ratio where a pore diameter of 0.3 mm and
hole-to-hole distance of 2 mm were considered. Reducing the hole
diameter to less than 0.3 mm has not yet been done because of fab-
rication constraints. Despite this, it was considered that the two
cases were still worth investigating to test the proposed concept.
comparison results in section 6.1. All possible gaps were sealed
with adhesive; otherwise, the resulting leakages could have caused
poor performance because of the resonance mechanism issue.
5.3. Measurement method

5.2. Sample fabrication A schematic diagram of the measurement method is shown in

All MPP samples were made of 0.9-mm-thick clear polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) with typical properties: q of 1350 kg/m3, Eof 2.92
GPa, and m of 0.4. The coiling backing cavities were fabricated using
3D printing technology, as shown in Fig. 11. A thicker panel can
lead to worse performance [38] because of the increase in impe-
dance mismatch, whereas a thinner panel requires special technol-
ogy in manufacturing, material, and panel vibration. The holes on
the PVC were made using a laser cutting machine, where the
uncertainty of the fabricated pore dimension was approximately
102 mm. The associated effects of this can be observed from the
7
Fig. 12 where a square tube made of 10-mm acrylic and BSWA
instrument system consists of ¼‘‘ microphone class 1 MPA 416,
4 channels analyzer MC 3242, 50 W power amplifier PA50,
and software module VA-Lab for sound absorption data process-
ing were employed. The impedance tube design and the mea-
surement of the absorption coefficient of the MPP were carried
out according to ISO 10534–2 [41]. This impedance tube has a
mean difference of 0.04 points compared with that of commer-
cialized circular impedance tubes when measuring absorption
coefficients of several porous materials. The speaker generated
white noise, and it was considered a plane wave traveling in a
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295

Fig. 11. Measurement samples for validations: (a) case I and (b) case II (note: one side is open for coiling backing cavity illustration).

Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of the impedance tube test method.

square tube with a side length of 60 mm to cover a frequency of
125 Hz to 2800 kHz. This plane wave conditions hold because
the wavelength of the wave at the highest frequency was longer
than the lateral tube width to avoid cross-section modes. To
obtain the phase correction factor of the microphones, the
microphones were swapped during the measurements. Two
types of microphone spacing were considered to cover the
low- and high-frequency ranges. A microphone spacing of
30 cm was used to obtain data from 125 to 500 Hz, while a
spacing of 5 cm was used for data from 400 to 2800 Hz. The
data of the overlapped frequency range were averaged to obtain
the overall absorption coefficient curves.

8
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
6. Results
6.1. Case I
The combination of two MPPs in case I produced two peaks at
300 and 580 Hz, as indicated by the theoretical results in Fig. 13.
Meanwhile, the sound absorption coefficients of 0.8 and above
extend from 200 to 950 Hz, while a wider sound absorption band-
width can be obtained for the half-absorption bandwidth, where
almost four octaves of bandwidth is pronounced. Within the fre-
quency range, an absorption coefficient of 0.94 occurs at approxi-
mately 408 Hz, which is a 0.02 difference compared with that of
the peaks. This suggests that the use of minute holes can help
the dip remain comparable with the peaks so that the resulting
absorption spectrum is relatively flat. Such indication is also found
from [13] when sound absorption of 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, and 0.8 mm
diameters are compared. The theoretical sound absorption behav-
ior is similar to the measurement results in terms of the peak
absorption, where the two peaks are also observed, as well as the
overall sound absorption level. However, some discrepancies were
found, particularly at 900 up to 1500 Hz, where an unexpected
peak was pronounced. This may result from a panel resonance
around 910 Hz associated with the fundamental mode considering
the panel material properties and panel natural frequency accord-
ing to the free vibration response theory [42] for a 60-  30-mm
panel area. Such an effect was not considered in the theoretical cal-
culation, where the panel was presumably rigid, as Maa’s formula-
tion suggests. Moreover, differences between the results were
observed in the off-resonance absorption spectrum. This arises as
a consequence of the electrical circuit model that assumes that
the width of the cavity is infinitesimal [13]. However, the compar-
ison results indicate that the coiling backing cavity is useful in
reducing the overall thickness of the MPP so that a thinner MPP
can be realized. In this case, the introduction of the coiled backing
cavity can result in a 158.5-mm thickness, whereas the conven-
tional cavity requires a 222.6-mm thickness for the same targeted
performance. Hence, a space savings of 29% can be obtained. Other
parallel system with straight backing cavities for instance [14] pro-
duce 10% higher peak absorption frequency for cavity depth of
150 mm.
For an uncertainty of 0.01 mm in the fabricated pore diameter,
differences are present around the peaks and dips, which are
around the 0.02 to 0.03 points of the sound absorption curves.
Below the first peak, the slope of the absorption curve is also
slightly different, particularly for lower frequencies, where the
smaller pore diameters have higher absorption and larger pore
Fig. 13. Sound absorption comparisons between theoretical and measured results
for case I.
9
Applied Acoustics 183 (2021) 108295
Fig. 14. Sound absorption comparisons between theoretical and measured results
for case II.
diameters have lower absorption. The absorption curves of the the-
oretical calculations were identical for high frequencies (greater
than900 Hz) for all cases. With pore uncertainty in fabrication,
the theoretical results are acceptable.
6.2. Case II
To test the proposed structure further, three MPPs were consid-
ered to deal with a wider absorption bandwidth. For this, the back-
ing cavities of two MPPs were coiled while the other remained
straight, as shown in Fig. 11(b). A comparison of the sound absorp-
tion between the theoretical and measurement results is presented
in Fig. 14. The first three peak absorptions can be observed from
both results around 315 Hz, 700 Hz, and 1000 Hz respectively.
Meanwhile, a peak absorption is found at 800 Hz for straight cavity
depth of 48 mm as shown by [13] whereas that of 700 Hz can be
obtained by cavity thickness of 45 mm which is the straight por-
tion of the coiling cavity of 60 mm. Moreover, the interesting point
is that a half-absorption bandwidth of four octaves can be realized
with this structure, while a maximum absorption coefficient of
0.85–0.96 can be obtained for frequencies of 250 to 2000 Hz. The
sound absorption coefficients between the dips and peaks are
around 0.09 and 0.23 at 458 and 893 Hz, respectively. This situa-
tion is much better than that of the non-minute holes. Comparison
with the measurement results confirmed this behavior. Hence, the
approach proposed in this study can help enhance the MPP perfor-
mance and address the classical problem found in absorber imple-
mentation, particularly at low frequencies.
Introducing a coiling structure to the backing cavities can
reduce the MPP thickness to 115 mm, where the longest cavity
has been coiled more than twice. This leads to a safer space, where
a 42% reduction in thickness can be obtained, which is larger than
those in cases I. This suggests that the coiled structure has great
potential to make the MPP system thinner depending on the
approach and strategy in coiling design and orientation. Moreover,
the use of more MPPs within the same unit cell dimensions can
extend the absorption band further than MPPs, resulting in more
than four-octave bands for case II. Meanwhile, six layer MPPs with
total thickness of around 142 mm is required to produce similar
absorption bandwidth as demonstrated by Bucciarelli et al.[8].
7. Conclusions
A class of MPP configurations consisting of coiled backing cavi-
ties arranged in a parallel configuration was developed and
I. Prasetiyo, I. Sihar and A.S. Sudarsono
demonstrated. Maintaining the geometrical dimensions  k
enables Maa’s formulation to be employed without modification,
although the coiling structure is incorporated in such a MPP sys-
tem. With a proper cavity depth ratio between MPPs in a parallel
configuration, the minimum sound absorption over the associated
bandwidth can be controlled. Moreover, the periodic effect was
present around the off-resonance absorption compared with the
single unit cell where the effect is more significant when the unit
cell dimension is larger. It was demonstrated that the introduction
of a coiling backing air cavity can save 29%–42% of the space com-
pared with the conventional method, depending on the approach
and strategy in coiling design as well as the target operating fre-
quency of absorption. Hence, this configuration can address
absorptions at low frequencies (less than500 Hz) without having
a bulky absorber system. Broadband absorption can be obtained
using parallel configuration frameworks. Moreover, the minute-
hole implementation can alleviate the problem of considerable
dip between the absorption peaks around the resonance MPP.
Experimental work indicates that the proposed structures are valid
with targeted features, i.e., thin and broadband absorber systems.
The results exhibit a half absorption bandwidth of almost four
octaves and an absorption coefficient of 0.8 or more from 250 to
1000 Hz, as expected according to the theoretical results, and the
coiled backing cavity works well.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to
DIKTI/BRIN Indonesia for providing funding through the Excellent
Basic Research of University Program 2020.
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