Multi-tonal low frequency noise control using Helmholtz resonators with complex cavity designs for aircraft cabin noise improvement

The noise control at multiple tonal frequencies simultaneously, in the low frequency range, is a challenge for aerospace, ground transportation and building industries. In the past few decades, various low frequency noise control solutions based on acoustic metamaterial designs have been presented in the literature. These solutions showed promising performance and are considered a better alternative to conventional sound insulation materials. In the present investigation, it was noticed that subdividing the cavity of a Helmholtz resonator allowed the control of multi-tonal noise at several resonance frequencies simultaneously and a shift of the resonance peaks towards the low frequencies. This paper proposes concepts of Helmholtz resonators with subdivided cavities to improve the sound transmission loss (STL) performance and simultaneously control the noise at several tonal frequencies. HRs with cylindrical shaped cavities were embedded in a layer of porous material. The STL of the metamaterial noise insulation configuration was predicted using serial and parallel assemblies of transfer matrices (TMM) incorporating a thermo-viscous-acoustic approach to accurately account for the viscous and thermal losses of acoustic wave propagation within the metamaterial. The STL calculated using the proposed TMM approach were observed to be in excellent agreement with the finite element method (FEM) numerical results.