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Acoustical properties of materials made of vegetable particles with several

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Article in Applied Acoustics · April 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.apacoust.2010.11.003

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 Acoustical properties of materials made of vegetable particles with several scales of
porosity

P. Glé, E. Gourdon, L. Arnaud

DGCB FRE CNRS 3237
Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat
Membre de l’Université de Lyon
Rue Maurice Audin - 69518 Vaulx en Velin Cedex France

Abstract
This article is devoted to the acoustical properties of hemp concrete, a “green” building material. In the study, hemp concretes made
of different binders and different kinds of particles were characterised, and then modeled using equivalent-fluid models. Further, it
is shown that the sound absorption of these materials can be controlled and significantly enhanced by means of suitable constituents
and fabrication processes. Finally, good results are provided by the models.
Keywords: Acoustics, Sound absorption, Multi-scale porosity, Vegetable particles, Hemp concrete, Hemp shiv

Introduction already been studied, such as aerated autoclaved concrete [9],

Nowadays building materials are expected to perform sev-
eral functions and to be sustainable. For example, materials are
supposed to satisfy structural, thermal and acoustical demands,
the latter including both sound absorption and sound insulation.
This enables an interesting gain of space in the buildings, in
comparison to the use of several materials put side by side, and
in parallel, a gain of time and money during the construction.
The second requirement is becoming more important with the
growing interest in sustainable building, which aims to reduce
greenhouse gas emission.
That is why new kinds of materials, such as recycled ma-
terials, are really interesting, and several studies present their
good acoustical properties [1, 2]. Other materials called “green
materials”, which are either completely natural or made of veg-
etable particles, also have a primary interest, since they are re-
newable and store carbon dioxide over long periods (50 - 100
years). Some of these materials, for example wood based ma-
terials [3], or rice straw-wood based materials [4], have already
been investigated. In this study, the acoustical absorption of
hemp concrete is examined. Studies have already underlined
the interesting mechanical, thermal and acoustical properties of
this material [5, 6, 7]. As it is made of the blending of hemp
shiv with a binder, it also belongs to this new generation of
materials. For instance, 1 m2 of hemp concrete (formulation
“Wall”) with a timber frame stores 35,5 kg of carbon dioxide
over a reference period of 100 years [8].
The main characteristic of hemp concrete (such as materials
made of other vegetable particles and granular materials with
porous aggregates) is its porosity, which has a huge influence on
its acoustical properties. Other kinds of porous concrete have
Email address: philippe.gle@entpe.fr (P. Glé)
Preprint submitted to Applied Acoustics
porous concrete with grains of irregular shape and dimension
[10] or porous concrete using recycled waste concrete aggre-
gate [11]. These porous concretes are also acoustically efficient.
However, the particularity of hemp concrete is its multi-scale
porosity.
This porosity is distributed between pores of different sizes
(ranging between 1 µm and 1 cm), into and between the parti-
cles and into the binder. Different analytical models have been
developed to predict the properties of porous materials in ab-
sorption [12]. Many of them are based on the assumption of
rigid frame media, from the empirical one with one parameter
[13], to the semi-phenomenological ones with five to eight pa-
rameters [14, 15, 16, 17] which describe faithfully the physical
phenomena that govern the dissipation in the porous media.
It becomes more difficult when one wants to study a media
described by several pore sizes. In the case of two pore sizes
(double-porosity), different approaches have been developed.
It was first studied using the homogenisation of periodic struc-
tures (HPS) [18], and then with a numerical method [19]. More
recently, authors have modeled the case of a distribution of pore
sizes [20]. In hemp concrete, three or four different physical
scales of porosity can be distinguished.
A wide range of hemp shiv, binders and fabrication processes
is available to produce hemp concrete. This diversity is very in-
teresting, since it can provide very different porous microstruc-
tures and consequently acoustical properties. In order to opti-
mise these properties, the visco-inertial and thermal phenomena
governing the acoustical dissipation into the material have to be
understood. This is particularly difficult in our case, since these
phenomena depend on the pore size distribution and on the con-
nectivity between the various porous networks.
The objective of this paper is also to discuss the measured
acoustical properties of hemp concrete according to several
July 2, 2010
key-parameters, and to present the characterisation and mod-
elling approaches adapted for this material.
In the first section of the article, the different constituents of
hemp concrete chosen in this study are introduced, as well as
the results of their characterisation measurements. Then, the
effects of these constituents and of the fabrication process on
the acoustical properties of hemp concrete are analysed. In the
last part, the results of a modelling approach are presented and
compared to experimental results.
had different harvests and different cuttings so their microstruc-
ture will be different. In this study, since our particles have
the same origin, only the effect of their size distribution was
observed. Three hemp shives with different particles size distri-
butions were tested (see Figure 2). In the following, S x stands
for the particles of size distribution x.

1. Characterisation of the constituents

1.1. Hemp shiv

1.1.1. Generalities
Hemp used to be cultivated in order to manufacture paper,
rope and tissue. After a period of disinterest generated by the
use of cotton and the convention against narcotics in the mid-
dle of the XXth century, several countries discover once more
this material, for example France and Belgium. The cultivated
species is Cannabis Sativa L. (see Figure 1 below) and belongs
to the family of the Cannabaceae. The cultivated area of hemp
in France is nowadays about 12000 ha, and this plant has sev- Size 3 Size 2 Size 1
eral interests, in agriculture and in building.
Figure 2: The three samples of hemp shiv, S 3, S 2 and S 1

Shiv has been characterised in a previous study using two

approaches [21]. To sum up this study, the characteristic di-
mensions and the representative elementary volume (REV) of
each hemp shiv were investigated using 2D images. These data
are summarized in Table 1 and the particles length and width
distributions are presented in Figure 3. It appears that the parti-
cles can be considered as parallelepipeds, the mean dimensions
of which are also given in Table 1. The reason why the authors
use particle size distribution rather than pore size distribution
is that shiv is a loose material, so the pore size distribution de-
pends on the density and the position and the orientation of the
particles in the sample.

Hemp shiv S1 S2 S3
Mean length (mm) 9 8 4
Mean width (mm) 2.5 2.5 1
Figure 1: A hemp culture Mean thickness (mm) 0.5
REV (mass - g) 3.0 2.4 3.7
The different parts of the plant are used. Seeds are harvested REV (number of particles) 500 400 1800
for the feeding of animals and for the fabrication of alimentary
Table 1: Characteristics of the hemp shiv
oil. Then, stems are cut and transformed to obtain, on the one
hand, fibers and on the other hand, the particles called shiv.
High quality paper and insulation wool are made from fibers,
Porosity and density. In this study, only the connected porosity
while particles, which are highly porous, are used for litter and
of the media, noted φ, is considered. Hemp shiv is a granular
as aggregates in hemp concrete. In the following, the study
media so it can be characterised by two porosities, the intra-
focuses only on the particles of hemp, as building materials.
particle porosity φintra and the inter-particle porosity φinter . The
total connected porosity φ of the hemp shiv in bulk can be eval-
1.1.2. Physical characteristics uated knowing φintra and φinter :
Particles size distribution. Particles of hemp can have differ-
ent origins, which means they grew under different climates, φ = φintra + (1 − φintra )φinter = φinter + (1 − φinter )φintra (1)
2
 14 16
S1
S2 0.9
12 14
S3

12
10 0.88

10
Surface (%)

Surface (%)

Porosity
8
0.86
8
6
6 0.84 S1 − Measured
4 S2 − Measured
4
S3 − Measured
0.82 S1 − Predicted
2 2 S2 − Predicted
S3 − Predicted
0 0 0.8
0 10 20 30 40 0 2 4 6 8 100 110 120 130 140 150 160
Length (mm) Width (mm) 3
Density (kg/m )

Figure 3: Particles size distribution of the shives [21] (Length distribution and Figure 4: Porosity of the hemp shiv in bulk according to its degree of com-
width distribution) paction

The intra-particle porosity was evaluated previously at 57% Sizes of the pores. As said before, the pores of the hemp shiv
using a 3D tomography (Mateis - INSA Lyon) for samples of in bulk are distributed in two categories, the inter-particle pores
hemp shiv with particles S 1 [21]. Then, the total porosity was and the intra-particle pores. The size of the inter-particle pores
measured with a porosimeter [22] on samples with a diameter is about 1 mm, and is directly linked to the degree of com-
of 46 mm for different degree of compaction of the hemp shiv: paction. For the intra-particle pores, a 3D tomography of a
particle of shiv S 1 done in the study mentioned above [21] and
• the low degree of compaction (ρ = 102kg/m3 ) where the presented in Figure 5 clearly shows microporosity, with two
particles are only poured, characteristic sizes. The first network of pores is characterised
by a size of about 70 µm (responsible for 15% of the intra-
• the intermediate degree of compaction (ρ = 123kg/m3 )
particle porosity), whereas the second one has a size of about
where the particles are poured and shaken,
400 µm (responsible for 85% of the intra-particle porosity).
• the high degree of compaction (ρ = 157kg/m3 ) where the
particles are mechanically compacted.

These measured values were compared to the predicted value

calculated with the assumption that the density of the frame of
the particles ρF does not depend on the degree of compaction
(see Figure 4). The porosity can also be calculated as follows:
ρ
φ=1− (2)
ρF

The density of the frame ρF was evaluated for each hemp 1 mm

shiv at the values given in Table 2. The differences measured

between the shives can be explained by the fact that smaller Figure 5: Intra-particle pores of a particle of shiv S 1 [21] - Mateis, INSA Lyon
particles are more cut, and therefore strained and consequently
compacted.

Hemp shiv S1
ρF (kg/m3 ) 820
Table 2: Density of the frame of the hemp shiv
The porosity decreases naturally with the degree of com-
paction of the shiv, but also depends on the size of the particles
as it is shown by Figure 4, since the densities of the frame differ
between the shives. That is why the hemp shiv S 3 has a greater
porosity, while S 1 and S 2 present close values.
S2 S3 Resistivity. The shiv static airflow resistance was measured fol-
860 1060 lowing the standard ISO 9053 on samples with a diameter of 93
mm and a height of 10 cm. The measurements were made for
each hemp shiv and for each degree of compaction on three dif-
ferent samples and were averaged. Results shown in Figure 6
point out that the resistivity of hemp shiv increases for small
particles and for high degree of compaction. Indeed, the more
compacted the shiv, or the smaller the particles, the smaller the
size of the inter-particle pores, and the higher the air flow resis-
tance, mostly linked to it.
3
 Binders A B C
16000 Mass content of powder (%) 64.3 64.3 66.4
S1
14000 S2
Mass content of water (%) 35.7 35.7 33.2
S3 Mass content of retarding agent (%) 0 0 0.4
12000 Density of the grains ρG (kg/m3 ) 2800 2700 3200
Resistivity (Nm−4s)

10000 Porosity of the binder matrix (%) 52 50 39

Density of the binder matrix (kg/m3 ) 1000 1200 1500
8000
Table 3: Mix formulation, density and porosity of the binders
6000

4000
pores, with a diameter of about 1 mm are visible on the faces of
2000 cut samples, especially for samples of binder A (See Figure 7
(a)). This is due to air trapped during the mixing process.
0
100 110 120 130 140 150 160
3
Density (kg/m )

Figure 6: Air flow resistance of the hemp shiv according to its degree of com- P
ores
iz
edi
st
ri
bu onofbi
nde
rA

paction

1.2. Binders
1.2.1. Generalities
In this study, three different binders were tested and com-
pared, two lime based and one cement based binders. For rea-
sons of confidentiality, they are noted A, B and C.

• Binder A is made of aerated lime (75%), hydraulic lime a b

(15%), and pozzolanic lime (10%). This binder is mostly
used to produce hemp concrete. Figure 7: Pores visible on cut samples of binder A (a), and pore size distribution
of binder A measured using mercury porosimetry [23] (b)
• Binder B is mostly composed of hydraulic lime. It has
essentially applications for restoration.

• Binder C is a quick natural cement. Its hardening is very
quick, so it implies the use of a retarding agent.
1.2.2. Physical characteristics
Samples of binder were produced with the mass contents
used in previous studies [5, 6]: about one third of water and
two third of powder of binder (see Table 3). Then, the samples
were tested in a stabilised state, once their density was approx-
imately constant.
Porosity and density. Firstly, the density of binder grains ρG
was calculated from the measurement of the porosity of these
latter. Then, the density and the porosity of the samples of
binder was also measured. The results are presented in Table
3.
Lime binders (A and B) both present a bigger porosity com-
pared to cement binder (C). No significant difference exists
between the two lime binders.
Sizes of the pores. The size of the pores of the different binder
samples was determined experimentally in a previous study
[23]. The porosity of the binder A was investigated using mer-
cury porosimetry and the characteristic size of the pores in the
binder is about 1 µm as shown in Figure 7 (b). Yet, bigger
4
Resistivity. The static air flow resistance of the samples was
then measured using samples with a diameter of 46 mm and a
height of 5 cm. The results are presented in Table 4.
Binders A B C
Resistivity of the binder (106 Nm−4 s) 3.5 3 3.3
Table 4: Resistivity of the binders
These extremely high values reveal the low permeability of
the samples. Moreover, with such values, it is not even pos-
sible to determine if the low differences observed between the
samples is due to the binders or to measurement errors.
1.3. Hemp concrete
1.3.1. Generalities
Hemp concrete is the result of the mixing of hemp particles,
binder and water. This is a green building material that com-
bines a good thermal insulation (λ = 0.06W/moC) and a good
acoustical absorption [5]. It is mostly used in buildings for
the filling of walls, roofs and floors. Various mixes of hemp
concrete can be produced depending on the binder content, the
degree of compaction, the size of the particles and the binder
type. In this study, nine different configurations were tested,
with hemp concretes made from the three sizes of particles and These equations were applied to the two extreme cases, first
the three different binders mentioned above. In the following, shortly after the mixing considering the total quantity of water,
the term S x − y stands for hemp concrete made with particles and second for the dry case considering the hemp concrete with-
S x and binder y. out water. These theoretical ranges of porosity are presented in
Table 7 between brackets.
1.3.2. Physical characteristics
The mix formulation is given in mass in Table 5 and corre- Porosity (%) Binder
sponds to a formulation called “Wall” [6], which presents an A B C
intermediate binder content. However, these proportions are S1 75 (43 - 78) 75 (43 - 78) 74 (46 - 79)
not rigorously the same for all the samples since they were ad- Shiv S2 67 (43 - 78) 68 (45 - 78) 75 (44 - 79)
justed during the mixing in order to get an ideal and sensible S3 68 (46 - 81) 73 (48 - 81) 72 (50 - 82)
consistency neither too dry (risk of aggregates formation that
would make the final sample heterogeneous) nor too wet (bub- Table 7: Porosity of the samples of hemp concrete
bles would make the mixing more expanded than usual).
The measured values are respectively situated between these
Shiv S1 S2 S3 limits. However, theoretical values must be slightly bigger than
Binder A B C A B C A B C the measured ones, since they are based on the assumption that
Hemp 16 16 17 16 17 16 16 17 17 the porosity of each constituent remains accessible. This is no
Powder 32 32 33 32 33 32 32 33 34 longer the case when binder penetrates into particle pores.
Water 51 51 50 51 50 51 51 50 49
Sizes of the pores. The specificity of the hemp concrete is that
R.A. 0 0 0.2 0 0 0.2 0 0 0.2
the total porosity measured and given in Table 7 corresponds to
Table 5: Mix formulation of the hemp concretes tested. The mass contents of the sum of the porosity of three different networks of pores:
hemp shiv, powder of binder and retarding agent (R.A.) are given in %
• The inter-particle porosity φinter ,
As for the binder, the measurements presented below were particle
made on stabilised samples. • The intra-particle porosity φintra ,

Porosity and density. The density of the different formulations • The intra-binder porosity φbinder
intra .
of hemp concrete are given in Table 6.
The main difficulty is that binder interacts with the particles
particle
Density (kg/m ) 3
Binder and it is difficult to know how much φinter and φintra are af-
A B C fected. We can assume that the binder has a more significant
influence on the inter-particle pores, but we can also suppose
S1 390 420 330 that it creates a thin layer around the particles and obstructs the
Shiv S2 400 390 310 intra-particle pores.
S3 420 420 420 Thus, the porous network of the hemp concrete is defined
Table 6: Density of the samples of hemp concrete by four different sizes of pores, which are the size of the intra-
binder pores (about 1 µm), the two sizes of the intra-particle
The density of the stabilised samples is about 400 kg/m3 , but pores (about 70 µm and 400 µm ) and the size of the inter-
in two cases (S 1 − C and S 2 − C), it is clearly lower. That particle pores (about 1 mm). Yet, in this study, the pore size
is due to an excess of water introduced in the mixing, which distribution of the hemp concretes was not determined because
turned into pores after drying. of the irregularity of the shapes of the pores, presented for ex-
The porosity was then measured on samples with a diameter ample in Figure 8 for the hemp concrete S 1 − B. Usually, pore
of 46 mm and a height of 5 cm (see Table 7). Porosities of size distribution are determined for porous media having pores
hemp concrete are close to each other, so that the effect of either with regular shape, such as circular, triangular or slit shapes
binder or particles size distribution can not be discussed. [20, 24].
The range of theoretical possible values for the total porosity These scales do not necessarily all take part into the phenom-
was also evaluated. This was done considering the frame den- ena of dissipation into the material.
sity ρF and the introduced mass M of each constituent in the
hemp concrete. So, we have: Resistivity. Finally, the resistivity of the hemp concretes was
measured following the standard ISO 9053, using samples with
T otal volume − Frame volume a diameter of 10 cm and a height of 10 cm. The measurements
φtheoretical = (3)
T otal volume were repeated on three samples from the same fabrication and
averaged. Their mean values are given in Table 8.
With:
The influence of the size of the particles and of the binder
X M(constituent) on the resistivity of hemp concretes is not clear. However, it
Frame volume = (4)
ρ (constituent)
constituents F
appears that the binder has the effect of increasing the air flow
5
 1
200

400
0.9
600 0.8
800

1000
0.7

Sound absorption
1200
0.6
1400

1600
0.5
1800
0.4
2000

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0.3

0.2
Size 1
0.1 Size 2
Figure 8: Pore shapes of hemp concrete S 1 − B
Size 3
0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Resistivity (Nm−4 s) Binder Frequency (Hz)
A B C
S1 11000 31300 33300 Figure 9: Sound absorption of hemp shiv for various sizes of the particles -
Shiv S2 73000 32300 55700 Low degree of compaction
S3 20300 19300 24700

Table 8: Resistivity of the samples of hemp concrete

resistance of the media. The differences observed between the
resistivities are mainly due to the other key-parameters of the
fabrication process, that are compaction and water content.
2. Identified key-parameters for the sound absorption
S 1 and S 2 are about the same, this is not surprising since their
particles size distributions are pretty close, as it was shown in
Section 1.1.2. However, for smaller particles (shiv S 3), the
hemp shiv has a better sound absorption, especially for the low
frequencies on the first peak of absorption. This difference can
be directly attributed to the increase of the resistivity and the
porosity described in Section 1.1.2.

In this section, the different ways to control the sound ab-

sorption of hemp concrete are discussed. Effect on the absorption of the hemp concretes. This effect is
not systematic on samples of hemp concrete. For example, the
2.1. Influence of the constituents sound absorption of hemp concrete made with binder B is about
2.1.1. Particles size distribution the same for the different shives, as shown in Figure 10. It
The effect of the choice of the particles on the sound absorp- seems like this effect is negligible compared to the other ex-
tion of hemp shiv and hemp concrete was investigated in this isting effects. These measurements were performed using a big
study. impedance tube developed in the lab, with a length of 5.5 m and
a square section of 60x60 cm2 . Samples are 10 cm thick.
Effect on the absorption of the hemp shiv. This effect was first
tested on hemp shiv in bulk, that is hemp shiv without any 1
Size 1
binder. Measurements were performed using an impedance 0.9 Size 2
tube B&K type 4106 (diameter of 10 cm), which was held ver- 0.8
Size 3
tically. The loose particles were poured in the tube, and shaken
0.7
and compacted if necessary to get the different degrees of com-
Sound absorption

paction described in Section 1.1.2 and a height of 10 cm. This 0.6

set-up was repeated three times to ensure the good reproducibil- 0.5
ity of the experimental data, and to test the incidence of the
0.4
preparation of the samples (e.g. the incidence of the tolerance
for the height and the surface finish of the sample, and the inci- 0.3

dence of the contact conditions between the shiv and the tube). 0.2
Besides, these samples had namely the same degree of com- 0.1
paction, but the position and orientation of the particles might
0
be slightly different. The Results are presented in Figure 9 for 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Frequency (Hz)
the example of a low degree of compaction.
First, the figure shows that the reproducibility is good, and
that the preparation of the sample has a minor incidence. Then, Figure 10: Sound absorption of hemp concrete for various sizes of the particles
it shows an interesting consequence of the size of the particles - Binder B
on the sound absorption. The acoustical properties of the shives
6
 1
2.1.2. Type of binder Binder A
Then, the effect of the binder was also explored, working 0.9 Binder B
with samples of pure binder, and with samples of hemp con- Binder C
0.8
crete. 0.7

Sound absorption
0.6
Effect on the absorption of the binder samples. Firstly, samples
of the three binders described in Section 1.2.2 (without shiv) 0.5
with a diameter of 10 cm were tested (see Figure 11). These 0.4
binders are very reflexive so that thick samples are hard to char-
0.3
acterise. That is why authors tested samples of binder having a
thickness of 5 cm. 0.2

0.1
0.5
Binder A 0
0.45 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Binder B Frequency (Hz)
0.4 Binder C

0.35
Figure 12: Sound absorption of hemp concrete according to the binder
Sound absorption

0.3

0.25
times for the same reasons explained Section 2.1.1. The results
0.2
for the particles S 2 is presented in Figure 13.
0.15
1
0.1
0.9
0.05
0.8
0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 0.7
Frequency (Hz)
Sound absorption

0.6

Figure 11: Sound absorption of the binder 0.5

0.4
This latter is particularly low, under 10% in the studied fre- 0.3
quency range. Yet, the absorption of the binder A is signifi-
0.2
cantly bigger than the absorption of the other binders. This fact Low degree of compaction
0.1 Intermediate degree of compaction
can be explained by the presence of big pores (size of about 1 High degree of compaction
mm) visible on the faces of this kind of binder (see Figure 7). 0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Frequency (Hz)
Effect on the absorption of the hemp concretes. Secondly, this
effect was tested on the samples of hemp concrete. Figure 12
Figure 13: Sound absorption of hemp shiv according to its degree of com-
compares the hemp concretes made with particles S 3. These paction
measurements were made with the big impedance tube.
As it can be seen, binder A loses its singularity in the hemp We note that the compaction of the hemp shiv has a big inci-
concretes. This can be explained by the fact that during the mix- dence on its sound absorption. On the one hand, the compaction
ing, the particules prevents the formation of the bigger pores of tends to translate the acoustic absorption curve (first and second
binder A. However, it appears that the hemp concretes made peak of absorption) towards the low frequencies. On the other
with lime binders, A and B, have a greater sound absorption. hand, it plays a significant role on the amplitude of the sound
We can make the assumption that this is due to the differences absorption, which is maximum for the intermediate degree of
already observed in porosity (see Table 3). compaction. Comparing Figures 9 and 13, one sees that the de-
gree of compaction has a bigger effect on the sound absorption
2.2. Influence of the fabrication process of hemp shiv than the particles size distribution. It seems also
2.2.1. Degree of compaction of particles that what matters most is not the particles size distribution but
The sound absorption of hemp concretes relies strongly on the density of the samples of shiv.
their fabrication process, starting with the degree of compaction
of the particles. Yet, in this study, each hemp concrete sample 2.2.2. Quantity of binder
was made with the same degree of compaction, so that this ef- The fabrication process is further defined by the quantity
fect was only analysed on hemp shiv in bulk. The three degrees of constituents introduced in the mixing. In a previous study
of compaction presented in Section 1.1.2 were compared for [5, 6], V. Cerezo tested the incidence of the binder content on
each size of particles. The measurements were repeated three the sound absorption coefficient of hemp concretes. To sum up
7
this study, several hemp concretes were fabricated with differ-
ent binder contents. The volume concentration of binder in the
samples varied between 9% and 51%. The results of this previ- 1
ous study are presented in Figure 14 for 10 cm thick samples. Uper face

Sound absorption
Lower face

0.5

0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Frequency (Hz)

b c
Figure 14: Sound absorption of hemp concrete according to the binder content
[5, 6]
Figure 15: Sound absorption of the two faces of the sample of hemp concrete
Thus, increasing the binder content is equivalent to decreas- S 1 − A (a), photographs of the upper face (b) and the lower face (c) of the
ing the porosity, so that the sound absorption is strongly re- sample
duced.

2.2.3. Quantity of water

As said in Section 1.3.2, water content in hemp concrete 1
has a strong influence on the samples consistency. Particularly, Uper face
Sound absorption

Lower face
when too much water is introduced, two phenomena happen.
In the first place, the mixing becomes bullous, so that its 0.5
compaction becomes difficult. Secondly, the excess of water
retreats to the lower face of the sample. Then, this water mixed
with binder dries and turns into a thin layer in contact with the 0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
mould of the sample. Among the nine formulations of hemp Frequency (Hz)
concrete, three were fabricated with this unwanted excess of a
water. The sound absorption of the lower face of such samples
is strongly affected by this phenomenon.

Figures 15 and 16 confront the surface and the sound

absorption of the faces. As we can see in the photographs of
these samples (Sub-figures b for the upper face and c for the
lower face), the porous network of the lower face (c) is partially
obstructed by the binder, so the sound absorption of this face
decreases (a).

In other cases, when an appropriate quantity of water is in-

troduced in the mixing, see Figures 17 and 18, no significant b c
difference is observed between the surface of the upper face (b)
and the lower face (c) so that their sound absorption is about the
Figure 16: Sound absorption of the two faces of the sample of hemp concrete
same. In the following, only samples with homogeneous faces S 1 − B (a), photographs of the upper face (b) and the lower face (c) of the
were modeled. The measurements of these figures were done sample
using the big impedance tube on 10 cm thick samples.
8
 3. Modelling of the materials
Many models have been developed for porous media. Some
1
Uper face
of them take into account the motion of the frame of the ma-
Sound absorption

Lower face terial [25, 26]. In the present study, the frame movement is
neglected.
0.5
The samples of hemp shiv and hemp concrete were modeled
using two equivalent-fluid models. Models based on as few
parameters as possible were sought in order to avoid the de-
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 termination of too many parameters. Yet, it is not possible to
Frequency (Hz)
neglect the effects of porosity, airflow resistance or tortuosity
a on the acoustical properties of granular materials [27, 28]. So,
the simplest models that can be used in this study have three pa-
rameters. Two parameters were directly measured in this study:
the connected porosity and the airflow resistance. The unknown
quantity is the tortuosity of the samples.
In these models, the acoustical properties of a material are
described with two complex quantities. The equivalent dy-
namic density ρeq treats the visco-inertial dissipation in the me-
dia. The equivalent dynamic bulk modulus Keq takes into ac-
count the thermal dissipation effect.

3.1. Biot-Allard model

b c Among the existing equivalent-fluid models, several models
based on three parameters could be used in this study. Voronina
Figure 17: Sound absorption of the two faces of the sample of hemp concrete and Horoshenkov developed an interesting model adapted for
S 3 − A (a), photographs of the upper face (b) and the lower face (c) of the loose granular material [29]. However this model is empirical
sample and do not enable to understand the dissipation effects, more-
over hemp concretes could not be modeled since these materials
are not loose. Another model has been presented by Attenbor-
ough [27], nevertheless it was shown that this model requires a
shape factor that has to be frequency dependent [30]. Finally, a
1
model developed by Allard et al. [31] applied with success to
Sound absorption

simple pore geometries by Stinson and Champoux [30, 32] was

used in this study.
0.5

Upper face 3.1.1. Description of the model

Lower face In this model, ρeq is defined by Allard et al. [31] using Biot
0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 theory [25, 26] whereas Keq uses the expression established by
Frequency (Hz)
Zwikker and Kosten [33]. These quantities depend on the pul-
a sation ω = 2π f and are defined as follows:
ρ0 α∞ jσ
ρeq (ω) = − F(λ) (5)
φ ω
√ √ !−1
γP0 T ( NPr λ − j)
Keq (ω) = 1 + 2(γ − 1) √ √ (6)
φ NPr λ − j
where F is the viscosity correction function introduced by
Biot:
√ √
1 λ − jT (λ − j)
F(λ) = − √ (7)
4 T (λ − j)
1−2 √
b c λ −j
T is the ratio between the Bessel functions of first and zero
Figure 18: Sound absorption of the two faces of the sample of hemp concrete
order, and λ is defined by:
S 3 − B (a), photographs of the upper face (b) and the lower face (c) of the s
sample 8α∞ ρ0 ω
λ=s (8)
σφ
9
 1
With the following characteristics of the air:
- ρ0 : the air density (1.2 kg/m3 ) 0.5

α
Data
- γ: the ratio of the specific heats of the air (1.4) Model
- P0 : the static pressure of the air (105 Pa) 0
500 1000 1500 2000
- NPr : the Prandtl number of the air (0.71) 10 0

Re(ρ/ρ0)

Im(ρ/ρ0)
And the following parameters describing the porous media: 5 −5
- φ: the open porosity
0 −10
- σ: the air flow resistance (Nm−4 s) 500 1000 1500 2000 500 1000 1500 2000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
- α∞ : the high frequency limit of the tortuosity
3 1
- s: the shape factor

Re(K/P0)

Im(K/P0)
2
0
Then, the sound absorption α can be calculated as α = 1
Z−Z0 0 −1
Z+Z0 with Z the surface impedance of the sample, and Z0 the 500 1000 1500 2000 500 1000 1500 2000
impedance of the air (about 400 kg.m−2 .s−1 ). For a hard backing Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

behind the sample in the experimental device, Z can be calcu-

lated as Z = − jZc cot(ke),
p with Zc the characteristic impedance
of the media (Zc = ρeq Keq ), and k the wave number in the Figure 19: Modelling of the sound absorption α, the normalised dynamic den-
q
ρ
sity ρ/ρ0 , and the normalised bulk modulus K/P0 of hemp shiv S 2 - Interme-
media (k = ω Keqeq ). diate degree of compaction

3.1.2. Evaluation of the parameters
• The open porosity φ and the resistivity σ were directly
measured on the samples as described in Section 1,
• Then, the high frequency limit of the tortuosity α∞ was ad-
justed to get the best agreement between the measurement
of the dynamic density and the modelling,
density ρ decreases, whereas the dynamic density predicted us-
ing Biot-Allard model is relatively constant. Fitting the tortu-
osity or the shape factor in a physical range did not allow to
approach the dynamic density and the sound absorption of the
material. This shows clearly that the Biot-Allard model is not
adapted for hemp concretes.

• Usually, the shape factor s is adjusted to make the model fit φ(%) σ(Nm−4 s) α∞
the measurements [32]. This parameter is defined between 73 19300 3.0
0.8 for narrow slits and 1.1 for equilateral triangular pores
Table 10: Parameters of the modelling of hemp concrete - S 3 − B
[30]. In this study, since an adjustment is already done
using the tortuosity, the shape factor was set by default at
unity.
3.2. Johnson model
3.1.3. Results In Section 3.1, we saw that a three parameters model is suffi-
In this section, the modelling of the samples is compared to cient to predict the acoustical properties of hemp shiv. But this
the measurements of sound absorption, dynamic density and is no longer the case for hemp concretes, for which the dynamic
bulk modulus. These measurements were performed using a density is not well predicted. So in a second step, in order to
three microphones method [34]. improve this modelling of hemp concretes taking more accu-
rately into account the visco-inertial effects, another parameter
Hemp shiv. For the hemp shiv in bulk, in every case, as shown was added. A model based upon the contributions of Johnson
in Figure 19 for the hemp shiv S 2 - Intermediate degree of com- et al. [14] was used.
paction, the agreement is good between the modelling and the
measurement. 3.2.1. Description of the model
In this model, ρeq is defined by Johnson et al. [14] to predict
φ(%) σ(Nm−4 s) α∞ more accurately the visco-inertial dissipation.
85 4600 2.3  s 
α∞ ρ0  jσφ 4α2∞ ηρ0 ω 
Table 9: Parameters of the modelling of hemp shiv S 2 - Intermediate degree of ρeq (ω) = 1 − 1 + j 2 2 2  (9)
compaction φ  ωρ0 α∞ σ Λφ

Hemp concretes. The model was applied to hemp concrete
samples, for example with the hemp concrete S 3−B. As we can
see in Figure 20, there are big differences between the sound ab-
sorption predicted by Biot-Allard model and the measurements.
Experimentally, we observe that the real part of the dynamic
10
η is the viscosity of the air (1.84 10−5 Pl) and Λ the viscous
characteristic length describing the size of the interconnections
between pores in the porous media.
Besides, since previous section showed that the expression
of Zwikker and Kosten predicts pretty well the measured bulk
modulus Keq , this expression is reused.
 Data Data
1 Model 1 Biot−Allard Model
Johnson Model
0.5 0.5
α

α
0 0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
40 0 40 0
Re(ρ/ρ0)

Re(ρ/ρ0)
Im(ρ/ρ0)

Im(ρ/ρ0)
20 20
−50 −50
0 0
100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
5 3 5 3
Re(K/P0)

Re(K/P0)
Im(K/P0)

Im(K/P0)
2 2
1 1
0 0
0 −1 0 −1
100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400 100 200 300 400
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 20: Modelling of the sound absorption α, the normalised dynamic den- Figure 21: Modelling of the sound absorption α, the normalised dynamic den-
sity ρ/ρ0 , and the normalised bulk modulus K/P0 of hemp concrete - S 3 − B sity ρ/ρ0 , and the normalised bulk modulus K/P0 of hemp concrete - S 3 − B

3.2.2. Evaluation of the parameters
• The open porosity and the resistivity were directly mea-
sured on the samples,
• Then, the high frequency limit of the tortuosity and the vis-
cous characteristic length were predicted using an indirect
characterisation method [35]. In this method, analytical
solutions derived from the Johnson et al. model [14] en-
able to extract these parameters from the measurement of
the real and imaginary parts of the dynamic density of the
material,
• The shape factor s was set at unity.
3.2.3. Results
The model was applied to the samples of hemp concrete. For
example, Figure 21 compares the measurements and the two
modelling approaches for the hemp concrete S 3 − B. It appears
that introducing the viscous characteristic length has a big in-
cidence on the modelling of sound absorption, so that the pre-
diction using the Johnson model is a lot more accurate than the
Biot-Allard model. Indeed, the real and imaginary parts of the
dynamic density are better estimated with this model.
φ(%) σ(Nm−4 s) α∞ Λ(m)
73 19300 3.0 23 10−6
Table 11: Parameters of the modelling of hemp concrete - S 3 − B
Conclusion
In this study, the acoustical properties of a “green” building
material, hemp concrete, were investigated, working with dif-
ferent kinds of binder and different sizes of particles.
Hemp concrete is characterised by its high porosity that com-
bines the microscopic pores of its binder and its vegetable par-
ticles, and bigger pores between the particles. Thus, its sound
absorption is intermediate between the excellent absorption of
hemp shiv, and the reflexion of the binder.
Besides, another convenience of the hemp concretes was
shown: its sensibility to several parameters. It enables control
of the acoustic absorption of the material, for instance, with the
choice of the constituents and of the fabrication process. To
conclude, hemp concretes made with lime binders and small
particles are particularly good acoustical absorbents.
These acoustical properties were then modeled using
equivalent-fluid models. For the hemp shives, the predictions
of a three parameters model provided good agreement with ex-
periment. For hemp concretes, a four parameters model had to
be used to get more accurate predictions.
The next objective of the authors is to link the parameters of
the models: porosity, airflow resistance, tortuosity and viscous
characteristic length, to the main characteristics of the material:
density, size of the particles and binder content.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank laboratory Mateis of INSA
Lyon for its valuable collaboration and the reviewers for their
constructive comments improving the manuscript.
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