Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

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Results in Physics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rinp

Underwater sound absorption performance of acoustic metamaterials with T

multilayered locally resonant scatterers
⁎
Kangkang Shia, Guoyong Jina, , Ruijie Liub, Tiangui Yea, Yaqiang Xuea
a
College of Power and Energy Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR China
b
Naval Research Academy, Beijing 100161, PR China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Although the conventional locally resonant acoustic metamaterials (LRAMs) have shown better sound absorp-
Underwater sound absorption tion performance in the low frequency band, the effective frequency range of the sound absorption performance
M-LRAMs is quite narrow relatively. To overcome this drawback, a novel type of multilayered locally resonant acoustic
Multilayered locally resonant scatterers metamaterials (M-LRAMs) is proposed in this paper. The sound absorption performance of the proposed LRAMs
Band gaps
can be broadened and enhanced by coupled resonance with embedding multilayered locally resonant scatterers
into the matrix structure. The finite element method (FEM) is employed to investigate the band gap char-
acteristics and the sound absorption performance of the proposed M-LRAMs. The coupled resonance effects of
the scatterers on the band gap characteristics and the sound absorption performance of acoustic metamaterials
are studied as well. Moreover, the effects of the physical parameters of matrix, the thickness of each layer, the
number of locally resonant scatterers and the materials of the scatterers on sound absorption performance are
investigated. Results indicate that coupled resonance can broaden band gaps and engender multiple band gaps,
and the M-LRAMs have many advantages in underwater sound absorption over the conventional LRAMs due to
the enhanced coupled resonance effects.

Introduction
In the past decades, LRAMs have attracted much attention of re-
searchers due to the ability to break through the conventional mass-
density law and its physical properties [1]. Based on the mechanism of
local resonance, acoustic metamaterials exhibit spectral band gaps with
a lattice constant two orders of magnitude smaller than the relevant
wavelength and it is widely applied in many fields of engineering, such
as vibration isolation, vibration absorption, and sound absorption.
Several theories and numerical methods, such as the plane wave ex-
pansion method (PWE) [2,3], the multi-scattering theory (MST) [4,5],
and the finite-difference time-domain method (FTDT) [6,7], have been
extensively applied to analyze the LRAMs behaviors. The most notable
feature of the LRAMs is the generation of low frequency band gaps,
which mainly depends on the properties of resonant units and is in-
dependent of structural size [8]. The typical LRAMs are made of dis-
tributed inclusions which are embedded into the matrix structure. A
critical issue for typical LRAMs in engineering application is the rela-
tively narrow band gaps produced by the mechanism of the local re-
sonance [9]. In addition, the generation of band gaps is dependent on
the movement of resonators, which limits the factors of controlling
band gaps. The narrow bandwidth limits the application of LRAMs in
engineering. Therefore, the designing of new acoustic metamaterials to
optimize the band gap characteristics of LRAMs has been the focus of
the attention of many researchers [10–14]. Through embedding geo-
metrically inhomogeneous acoustic lenses into the matrix structure,
Zhu et al. [15] designed a type of the two-dimensional structure, and
obtained wideband operating conditions which can span the range of
acoustic metamaterials. Ma et al. [16] proposed a purely flexible
lightweight membrane-type acoustic structure, and the proposed me-
tamaterial not only can open a full band gap but also can obtain an
ultra-low-frequency (below 100 Hz) bending wave band gap. Reynolds
[17] designed a kind of active viscoelastic metamaterials, and double
negativity can be achieved. It can be used for vibration isolation in
engineering. It has better performance, especially in the low frequencies
range, and the high attenuation can be obtained over the wide fre-
quencies band. Based on spider web structured configurations, the la-
byrinthine acoustic metamaterials with hybrid dispersion character-
istics was proposed by Krushynska [18].The structure could be applied
to reduce airborne noise due to the flexible tunability of wide operating
frequency band in low-frequency sound. Based on a new synergetic
coupling design concept, Ma et al. [19] proposed a bilayer plate-type

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: shikangkang@hrbeu.edu.cn (K. Shi), guoyongjin@hrbeu.edu.cn (G. Jin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rinp.2018.11.060
Received 16 October 2018; Received in revised form 16 November 2018; Accepted 17 November 2018
Available online 22 November 2018
2211-3797/ © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
K. Shi et al.
Fig. 1. The cross-section for a unit cell of the three proposed; (a) the conventional LRAMs; (b) the LRAMs with double-layered cylindrical scatterers; (c) the LRAMs
with three-layered cylindrical scatterers; (d) the schematic diagram of materials for components.
lightweight double negative metasurface, by which the double negative
bands, perfect absorption, free manipulation of phase shifts and
acoustic cloak are successively achievable. The adaptive hybrid meta-
materials were proposed by Chen [20] through bonding negative ca-
pacitance into the passive LRAMs and revealed the ability to manip-
ulate wave from the point of bending stiffness and effective negative
mass density. Based on general synergetic coupling behavior, two ty-
pical plate-type acoustic metamaterials were designed by Ma [21], and
sound transmission loss or absorption coefficients of the proposed
acoustic metamaterials were kept at a high level in relatively higher
frequency ranges.
When viscoelastic deformation is taken into account, enhanced
sound absorption can be obtained for LRAMs within the band gaps. It
indicates that the LRAMs can be employed to design the new acoustic
absorbing structures. The underwater usage of viscous LRAMs has at-
tracted extensive research interests. Anne-Christin et al. [22] employed
FEM to analyze the scattering characteristics of a plane sound wave in a
double-layered periodic structure and the results showed that the FEM
is accurate and feasible to investigate the behaviors of these grating.
Meng et al. [23] considered the effect of a steel plate and investigated
the sound absorption performance of the anechoic coatings with dif-
ferent models. Zhao et al. [24,25] researched the sound absorption
performance of the three-dimensional phononic crystals with spherical
scatterers which are embedded periodically into the viscoelastic matrix.
They demonstrated that the viscoelastic and shear properties of mate-
rials are essential to the sound absorption performance, and the sound
absorption can be enhanced by multiple scattering (MS) in the
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Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142
destructive interface below the Bloch frequencies. Meng [26] proposed
a simplified analytical model that the unit cell of anechoic coating
could be approximately equivalent to a cylindrical tube to predict the
sound absorption performance of an underwater anechoic coating. To
optimize the sound absorption characteristics of anechoic coatings,
Ivansson [27,28] designed the underwater anechoic coatings with air
cavities. Considering the effect of hydrostatic pressure on sound ab-
sorption performance of the structure, Jiang et al. [29,30] embedded
the interpenetrating network into the LRAMs and achieved strong and
wideband sound absorption under the condition of the high hydrostatic
pressure. In order to enhance the underwater sound absorption in the
low frequency range, Meng et al. [31] embedded different local re-
sonant into the acoustic metamaterials and obtained wideband ab-
sorption in the low frequency range, and optimized the parameters of
LRAMs to broaden the frequency range of effective sound absorption.
Zhao et al. [32] introduced localized resonance to optimize the sound
absorption performance of viscoelastic LRAMs in the low frequency
range, and investigated the sound absorption mechanism of viscoelastic
LRAMs. Chen [33] proposed a type of sound absorbing material which
is series composition of two axial coupled tubes and efficient for the low
frequency, and the frequency band is broadened within which the
sound absorption performance is better than the designed value.
Starkey [34] designed a thin acoustic absorber only composed of the
rigid metal and air, and investigated the attenuation of the airborne
sound in the low frequency based on local resonance. Ma et al. [35]
proposed a bi-layer plate-type unit with both a negative mass density
and a negative bulk modulus, and analyzed the intrinsic relationship
K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

between the sound transmission (absorption) characteristics and the

effective parameters. Lewinska [36] proposed a type of LRAMs with
periodic multicoated inclusions, and achieved multiple attenuation re-
gimes.
Although the conventional LRAMs have better sound absorption
performance in the low frequency band, their frequency range of ef-
fective sound absorption is relatively narrow, which limits its applica-
tion in engineering. In order to overcome this drawback, the purpose of
this paper is to design a new type of LRAMs to broaden the frequency
range of effective sound absorption based on the mechanism of coupled
resonance. In this paper, a new type of the LRAMs with multilayered
cylindrical scatterers is proposed. The band gap characteristics and the
sound absorption performance of the proposed M-LRAMs are in-
vestigated. In the study of this paper, the FEM is employed to calculate
the displacement fields of the eigenmodes and the sound absorption
coefficients, respectively. In addition, the effects of the physical para-
meters of matrix, the thickness of each layer, the number of locally
Fig. 2. The first irreducible Brillouin zones (shaded triangle).
resonant scatterers and the materials of scatterers on sound absorption
performance are investigated. How the composite scatterers with dif-
ferent materials affect the sound absorption performance of the M- u (r + a) = u (r) e (ik·a) (4)
LRAMs is studied as well. The superiority of the M-LRAMs in under- where a is the spatial vector of LRAMs.
water sound absorption over the conventional LRAMs will be shown. FEM is applied to analyze the eigenfrequency and the dispersion
relations of the above mentioned model. The transmission function can
Model and calculation method be defined as:

Calculation model for band gap characteristics u

TF = 10 log10 ⎛ t ⎞
⎜ ⎟

The LRAMs slab can be considered as the periodic arrangement of a
unit cell along the x and y directions. The cross-section for a unit cell of
the conventional LRAMs is shown in Fig. 1(a). It can be seen that a
cylindrical scatterer coated by soft rubber is embedded in the matrix.
Local resonance is generated by the relative motion between the scat-
terers and the matrix which are connected by soft rubber. Based on the
idea of local resonance and coupled resonance, a new type of the
LRAMs with multilayered locally resonant scatterers is proposed. The
cross-section for the unit cell of the proposed M-LRAMs are shown in
Fig. 1(b) and (c), which represent double-layered cylindrical scatterers
and three-layered cylindrical scatterers configurations, respectively.
The lattice constant is set as a. The heights of the coated material are hi
and the radii of scatterers in each layer are ri. The materials of matrix,
coating layers, and scatterers are made of epoxy, soft rubber and steel,
respectively.
The governing equations in the field of the elastic structure can be
represented as [37]:
3
∂ ⎛
3 3
∂ 2u ∂ 2u
∑ ∑ ∑ cijkl ∂t 2i ⎞⎟ = ρ ∂t 2i
∂x j ⎜ l = 1 k = 1
(i = 1, 2, 3)
j=1 ⎝ ⎠ (1)
where t is the time, cijkl are the elastic constants, ρ represents the mass
density, ui denotes the displacement and xj represent the coordinate
variables.
According to finite element theory, the eigenvalue equation in a unit
cell can be expressed as:
(K − ω2 M) U = 0 (2)
where K and M represent the stiffness and mass matrices of a unit cell,
respectively. U denotes the displacement vector of the nodes.
Based on Bloch theorem, the elastic displacement fields u(r) can be
obtained:
u (r) = uk (r) e (ik·r) (3)
where uk(r) is the periodical vector function whose periodicity is the
same as the unit cell and k = (kx, ky) is the Bloch wave vector in the
irreducible Brillouin zone (as shown in Fig. 2).
According to Eq. (3), the periodic boundary condition can be re-
presented:
⎝ ui ⎠ (5)
where ui and ut are the values of incidence displacements and trans-
mittance displacements, respectively.
FEM for sound absorption performance
The purpose of this study is to illustrate that embedding multi-
layered locally resonant scatterers into the acoustic metamaterials can
achieve significant sound absorption performance at wide frequency
range. The computational model of sound absorption for the proposed
LRAMs is established, which consists of a fluid layer, a sound absorp-
tion layer and an air backing layer, as shown in Fig. 3. The computa-
tional model can be considered as the combination of different layers
which is perpendicular to the z-axis. A plane wave is vertical incidence
along z-axis from the semi-infinite water space below the sound ab-
sorption layer. In the investigations of this paper, the backing layer is
semi-infinite air, and the viscoelastic parameters of components are
independent of the frequency.
In the fluid domain, acoustic wave equation can be expressed:
1 ∂ 2p
− ∇2 p = 0
c ∂t 2 (6)
According to FEM, the discrete governing equation for the fluid
domain can be obtained as:
Mp p̈ + Kpp + ρ0 Rü = f (7)
where p is the sound pressure vector at the fluid nodes, Kp and Mp
represent the stiffness and mass matrices for the fluid domain, respec-
tively; R denotes the matrix which is used to describe the coupling
effect between the structure and the fluid; ρ0 is the fluid density; f de-
notes the sound pressure load vector applied to the fluid.
In the structure domain, the finite element equation can be obtained
as:
Ms ü + Ks u = Fm + F0 (8)
where u is the displacement vector at the structural nodes, Ks and Ms
represent the structural stiffness and mass matrices, respectively; Fm
and F0 are the mechanical load and the fluid load applied to the
structure, respectively.

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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

RT Ks − ω2 Ms ⎤ p Fs
⎡
⎢ Kp − Cϕ − ω2 Mp − ρ0 ω2R ⎥ u
⎣ ⎦ ⎨ {}
=⎧ ⎫
Ff ⎬
⎩ ⎭ (10)
where Fs is the mechanical load applied to structure; Cϕ and Ff contain
the nodal values of the pressure normal gradient on the fluid domain
boundaries; ω denotes the angular frequency.
By solving Eq. (10), the displacement u for the structure and the
sound pressure of the fluid nodes p can be obtained. The unknown
coefficients Rnm and Tnm which represent plane wave expansion coef-
ficients can be obtained. The reflection coefficient R and the trans-
mission coefficient T can be defined as the following equation [31]:

R= ∑k 2 |Rnm |2
mn > 0

T= ∑k 2 |Tnm |2
mn > 0 (11)
2
where knm = k 2 − (2nπ / d x + k x )2 − (2mπ / d y + k y )2 . m and n are the
orders of plane wave expansion.
The sound absorption coefficient α can be solved according to the
following equation:
α = 1 − R2 − T 2 (12)

Results and discussions

Band gap characteristics of the M-LRAMs

The parameters of the materials used in this paper are shown in

Fig. 3. The cross-section for the computational model of sound absorption for Table 1. The volume ratio of the rubber to the steel is 1:1. In order to
the LRAMs with three-layered cylindrical scatterers. ensure the same filling rate of the three LRAMs, the lattice constant is
set as a = 0.01 m and the geometric parameters are listed in Table 2.
Table 1 The band diagram of the conventional LRAMs are shown in Fig. 4.
The physical parameters of materials. The frequency range of the band gaps is from 2602.0 Hz to 3124.0 Hz.
Material Density (ρ, Young’s modulus Poisson’s ratio Loss factor
Fig. 5 shows the band diagram of the LRAMs with double-layered lo-
kg/m3) (E, Pa) (ν,1) (η,1) cally resonant scatterers, and it exhibits one band gap at frequencies
between 2822.3 Hz and 3703.4 Hz. The bandwidth of the LRAMs with
Epoxy 1100 1.4 × 108 0.49 0.6 double-layered locally resonant scatterers is 881.1 Hz, and the band gap
Rubber 1300 2 × 105 0.495 0.3
is broadened compared with that of the conventional LRAMs. When the
Steel 7890 2.16 × 1011 0.35 0
number of scatterers increases, the LRAMs with three-layered locally
resonant scatterers exhibit two band gaps at frequencies between
Because the scatterers are embedded into the matrix structure per- f = 3080.2 Hz and f = 3953.0 Hz, f = 6213.0 Hz and f = 6379.4 Hz, as
iodically, the LRAMs can be considered as the extension of a unit cell in shown in Fig. 6. Meanwhile, the attenuation band of transmission
an infinite plane which is normal to the direction of the incident waves. spectra of the LRAMs with three-layered locally resonant scatterers is
Based on the Bloch theorem, only a unit cell is needed to be studied, wider than the other two LRAMs, as shown in Fig. 4(b), Figs. 5(b) and
and any spatial function χ (pressure, displacement) can be represented 6(b). The vibration modes of the three LRAMs show that the vibration
as [22]: energy is mainly concentrated in the scatterer when the frequency is at
the lower edge of the band gap, while the vibration energy is con-
χ (x + d x , y + d y , z ) = χ (x , y, z ) e jdx k sin θ cos φe jdy k sin θ sin φ (9) centrated both in the matrix and the scatterer when the frequency is at
the upper edge of the band gap. It appears the relative motion in vi-
where dx and dy represent lattice sizes along the x and y axis, respec- bration modes of the multilayered scatterers as a result of the stratified
tively. θ is the angle between the wave incident direction and the z axis. design of scatterers. The coupling effect between the scatterers can
φ denotes the azimuth of sound wave incident direction and x axis. induce more vibration modes and it is enhanced with the increase of the
The discrete equations of the finite element model for the interac- number of scatterers. Therefore, the proposed M-LRAMs can broaden
tion between the fluid and the structure of a single cell can be written in the band gap and engender multiple band gaps. In addition, the vi-
the assembled form as [22]: bration energy is mainly concentrated in the scatterer when the fre-
quency is at the lower edge of the band gap, meanwhile, the mass of
each scatterer decreases when the scatterer is stratified. Therefore, the

Table 2
The geometric parameters of the proposed LRAMs.
LRAMs Cylindrical radius (×10−3 m) Cylindrical heights (×10−3 m)

r1 r2 r3 r4 r5 r6 h1 h2 h3 h4 h5 h6

Fig. 1(a) 4.0 3.3 8.0 6.0

Fig. 1(b) 4.0 3.7 3.3 2.6 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0
Fig. 1(c) 4.0 3.8 36 3.3 2.8 2.2 8.0 7.4 6.6 6.0 5.4 4.6

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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

Fig. 4. The band diagram and absorption coefficients of the conventional LRAMs; (a) band gap; (b) transmission spectra; (c) vibration modes of lower edge and upper
edge of the band gap.

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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

Fig. 5. The band diagram and absorption coefficients of the LRAMs with double-layered locally resonant scatterers; (a) band gap; (b) transmission spectra; (c)
vibration modes of lower edge and upper edge of the band gap.

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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

Fig. 6. The band diagram and absorption coefficients of the LRAMs with three-layered locally resonant scatterers; (a) band gaps; (b) transmission spectra; (c)
vibration modes of lower edge and upper edge of the band gaps.
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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

Fig. 7. Comparison between finite element solution and analytical solution. Fig. 10. Comparison of the sound absorption for the LRAMs with three-layered
scatterers having various Young’s modulus of the matrix.

Fig. 8. Sound absorption of the conventional LRAMs. Fig. 11. Comparison of the sound absorption for the LRAMs with three-layered
scatterers having various densities of the matrix.

Fig. 9. Comparison of sound absorption of the three LRAMs.

Fig. 12. Sound absorption coefficients of the LRAMs with double-layered
starting frequency of the first band gap moves to higher frequency. scatterers having various thickness of the each layer.

In order to verify the feasibility of the FEM for calculating the sound
Underwater sound absorption performance of the M-LRAMs
absorption coefficients of LRAMs, uniform anechoic coating without
cavities is chosen and the thickness is 50 mm. The analytical solution is
Referring to the computational model shown in Fig. 3, the geometric
based on the transfer matrix method [38]. Fig. 7 shows the sound re-
structure of the sound absorption layer is assumed to be the same with
flection coefficient and the absorption coefficient of uniform anechoic
M-LRAMs. A fluid layer whose thickness is 30 mm lies below the sound
coating, and it can be seen that the FEM result is agree well with the
absorption layer. The sound speed is 1489 m/s, and the density of water
analytical result. When dealing with the LRAMs by FEM, only the
is 1000 kg/m3. The sound wave is parallel to the xy-plane and incident
coupling boundaries between the different materials are added inside
perpendicularly along the z axis. The absorption coefficients of the M-
the LRAMs and the boundary of acoustic-structure coupling is not
LRAMs are calculated by the finite element model.

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K. Shi et al. Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142

affected. Accordingly, the accuracy of calculation for LRAMs by FEM

will not be affected [39,40], and the FEM is feasible to calculate sound
absorption coefficients of the LRAMs.
The sound absorption coefficient curve of the conventional LRAMs
is shown in Fig. 8. Compared with the band diagram of Fig. 4(a) and the
sound absorption coefficient curve, within the band gap frequency
ranges, the sound absorption coefficient begins to increase quickly and
reaches to a sound absorption peak. It is suggested that the conven-
tional LRAMs have better sound absorption performance within the
band gap, and it is indicated that the effect of the band gap on sound
absorption performance is manifested. The relationship between the
band structure and the sound absorption coefficient curve suggests that
the vibration properties reflected in the band structure and the sound
properties reflected in the sound absorption coefficient curve are cor-
responding.
Although the conventional LRAMs have better sound absorption
Fig. 13. Sound absorption coefficients of the LRAMs with three-layered scat-
performance within the band gap frequency ranges, the effective fre-
terers having various thickness of the each layer.
quency range of sound absorption is relatively narrow. Therefore, ac-
cording to the band gap characteristics of the M-LRAMs and the re-
Table 3 lationship between the band structure and the sound absorption, the
Physical parameters of the scatterers materials. sound absorption performance of the proposed M-LRAMs is in-
Materials Density (ρ, Young’s modulus Poisson’s ratio Loss factor vestigated. Fig. 9 demonstrates the sound absorption performance of
kg/m3) (E, Pa) (ν, 1) (η, 1) the three LRAMs. It can be seen that the absorption peak moves to
higher frequency, the peak and valley values of sound absorption have
Aluminum 2700 7.0 × 1010 0.34 0
Steel 7890 2.16 × 1011 0.35 0
been improved with the increase of the number of the scatterers, and
Plumbum 11,600 4.08 × 1010 0.37 0 the sound absorption performance of the LRAMs with three-layered
scatterers is better than that of the other two structures.
Based on the band gap characteristics of the M-LRAMs and the re-
lationship between the band structure and the sound absorption above
studied, the proposed M-LRAMs can broaden the band gap and en-
gender multiple band gaps, and the M-LRAMs show better sound ab-
sorption performance within the band gap frequency range. It is the
reason why the sound performance of the M-LRAMs is better than that
of the conventional LRAMs. The starting frequency of the first band
gaps moves to higher frequency with the increase of the number of the
scatterers, and it is the reason why the sound absorption peak of the M-
LRAMs moves to higher frequency.
Figs. 10 and 11 show the effects of the physical parameters of matrix
on the sound absorption of the LRAMs with three-layered scatterers. It
can be found that, no matter modulus or density, they have almost no
effect on the first sound absorption peak. However, for the second
sound absorption peak, the frequency of absorption peak moves to low
frequency with the increase of the density, and moves to high frequency
with the increase of Young’s modulus. The first absorption peak is
Fig. 14. Comparison of the sound absorptions for the LRAMs with double- mainly produced by the resonance of scatterers, thus the change of the
layered scatterers with different materials. physical parameters of matrix has no effect on the frequency of this
absorption peak. While the second absorption peak mainly depends on
the resonance between the scatterers and the matrix, the increase of
Young’s modulus will increase the stiffness of the matrix, and the in-
crease of density will increase the mass of the matrix. It is the reason
why the frequency of the second absorption peak moves to low fre-
quency with the increase of the density, and moves to high frequency
with the increase of Young’s modulus.
In order to study how the thickness of each layer affects the sound
absorption performance, the volume of each part remain unchanged
and the height of each part changes with changing the thickness of the
each layer. The thickness of the each layer can be defined as h = hi-hi+1
(i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Figs. 12 and 13 represent that the sound absorption
coefficients vary with thickness of the each layer for the LRAMs with
double-layered scatterers and the LRAMs with three-layered scatterers,
respectively. It demonstrates that the absorption peak moves to lower
frequency with the increase of the thickness of each layer. In the study
of LRAMs, the coating layer can be equivalent to a spring, and its
Fig. 15. Comparison of the sound absorptions for the LRAMs with three-layered thickness has an effect on the stiffness of the equivalent spring. Ac-
scatterers with different materials.
cording to the theory of the locally resonant phononic crystals, the
increase of the thickness of coating materials will lead to the decrease of

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K. Shi et al.
Aluminum
Plumbum
z z
a a
0 x
(a)
Fig. 16. The M-LRAMs comprising of composite scatterers with different materials.
Fig. 17. Comparison of the sound absorptions for the Fig. 16(a).
Fig. 18. Comparison of the sound absorptions for the Fig. 16(b).
the stiffness which will reduce the band gap frequencies [41]. Mean-
while, as the volume of scatterers keep unchanged, changing the
thickness of each layer will not affect the mass of scatterers. Therefore,
the frequency range of effective sound absorption for the proposed
LRAMs moves to lower frequency, and it is the reason why the ab-
sorption peak moves to lower frequency with the increase of the
thickness of each layer.
Three kinds of materials are selected as shown in Table 3 to study
how the materials of the scatterers affect the sound absorption perfor-
mance. The geometric parameters of scatterers are same as above
computations. Figs. 14 and 15 show the sound absorptions for the
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Results in Physics 12 (2019) 132–142
Aluminum
Aluminum
Plumbum
a
0 x
(b)
multilayered scatterers with steel, aluminum and plumbum cores, re-
spectively. It can be seen that the absorption peak moves to lower
frequency with the increase of the density of scatterers. In addition, the
sound absorption performance of the M-LRAMs with plumbum cores is
better than the other two both in the low frequency range. The effective
frequency range of sound absorption for the M-LRAMs with plumbum
cores is wider than that of the M-LRAMs with other two. Based on the
previous studies of vibration modes and band gap characteristics, the
vibration energy is mainly concentrated in the scatterer when the fre-
quency is at the lower edge of the band gaps. Therefore, the frequency
of the absorption peak is mainly determined by the resonance fre-
quency of scatterers. At the same time, the mass increases with the
increase of the density of scatterers which reduces the resonance fre-
quency of scatterers, and it is the reason why the absorption peak
moves to lower frequency with the increase of the density of scatterers.
In order to study how the composite scatterers with different ma-
terials affect the sound absorption performance, two structures are
designed as shown in Fig. 16. Geometric parameters are the same as
Table 2, and the parameters of the scatterers materials are as shown in
Table 3. Figs. 17 and 18 show the comparison of the sound absorptions
for the LRAMs with composite scatterers. Since the absorption peak is
mainly determined by the resonance frequency of the scatterers, the
frequency of the absorption peak of the LRAMs with composite scat-
terers is between the peak values of the other two structures. It can be
seen that the sound absorption performance for the LRAMs with com-
posite scatterers is poor in wide frequency range. There is a great dif-
ference between the resonance frequency of the two materials, and it is
difficult to form the coupled resonance effect between the two kinds of
materials scatters. According to wideband acoustic absorption me-
chanism mentioned above, it is the reason why the LRAMs with com-
posite scatterers do not have the characteristics of wideband sound
absorption. Therefore, the materials of the scatterers should be selected
with the same material or the materials whose resonance frequencies
are close to each other.
Conclusions
This paper systematically analyzed the underwater sound absorp-
tion performance of acoustic metamaterials with multilayered locally
resonant scatterers. Based on the mechanism of local resonance and the
idea of coupled resonance, multilayered locally resonant scatterers are
designed. The FEM is employed to investigate the band gaps char-
acteristics and the sound absorption performance of the proposed M-
LRAMs. Numerical results indicate that the M-LRAMs can broaden band
gap and engender multiple band gaps owing to coupled resonance be-
tween the scatterers. Therefore, the M-LRAMs have much obvious su-
periority in underwater sound absorption over the conventional
K. Shi et al.
LRAMs. In addition, how the physical parameters of matrix, the thick-
ness of each layer, the number of locally resonant scatterers and the
materials of scatterers affect the sound absorption performance is in-
vestigated. The effect of the composite scatterers with different mate-
rials on the sound absorption performance of the M-LRAMs is studied as
well. It is found that the sound absorption performance has a close
relationship with the thickness of each layer. When the thickness of the
coating materials increases, the absorption peak moves to lower fre-
quency. In addition, coupled resonance will be enhanced with the in-
crease of the number of locally resonant scatterers. However, combi-
nations of scatterers with different materials will weaken coupling
resonance between the scatterers, especially great difference between
the resonance frequencies of the two materials. Therefore, the materials
of scatterers should be selected with the same material or materials
whose resonance frequencies are close to each other. The study suggests
that a novel design for broadening the frequency range of effective
sound absorption provides a new idea for the practical application of
the LRAMs.
Acknowledgments
The work is partially supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Nos. 51822902, 51709066 and 51775125), China
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of
China (No. HEUCFG201713), China.
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