Incorporation of macroscopic heterogeneity within a porous layer to enhance its acoustic absorptance

Abstract: We seek the response, in particular the spectral absorptance, of a rigidly-backed periodically-(in one horizontal~~ direction) ~inhomogeneous ~layer ~composed ~of ~alternating rigid and macroscopically-homogeneous porous portions, submitted to an airborne acoustic plane body wave. The rigorous theory of this problem is given and the means by which the latter can be numerically solved are outlined. At low frequencies, a suitable approximation derives from one linear equation in one unknown. This approximate solution is shown to be equivalent to that of the problem of the same wave incident on a homogeneous, isotropic layer. The thickness $h$ of this layer is identical to that of the inhomogeneous layer, the effective complex body wave velocity therein is identical to that of the porous portion of the inhomogeneous layer, but the complex effective mass density, whose expression is given in explicit algebraic form, is that of the reference homogeneous macroscopically-porous layer divided by the filling factor (fraction of porous material to the total material in one grating period). This difference of density is the reason why it is possible for the lowest-frequency absorptance peak to be higher than that of a reference layer. Also, it is shown how to augment the height of this peak so that it attains unity (i.e., total absorption) and how to shift it to lower frequencies, as is required in certain applications.