Low-frequency acoustic absorption of localized resonances: Experiment and theory

The idea of localized resonance in phononic crystals is introduced to improve the low-frequency acoustic absorption of viscoelastic materials, which are widely used underwater to absorb the unwanted noise and meet a difficult challenge to enhance low-frequency absorption. Experimental measurements for acoustic absorptances of various viscoelastic polymer slabs embedded with locally resonant scatterers, i.e., heavy spheres coated by soft silicon rubber, are reported. Theoretical investigations using a layer-multiple-scattering method show good agreement with the experiment results, which supports unambiguously the observed low-frequency absorption phenomenon. The physical mechanism for the low-frequency absorption is also investigated by referring the elements of the Mie scattering matrix. The observations suggest that the scattered energy tends to remain in transverse waves, which enhance the multiple scattering, damp rapidly in viscoelastic polymer and dominate the acoustic absorption.