Analysis of the sound insulation performance of periodic wall structures by a virtual acoustic laboratory

The propagation of acoustic waves in periodic structures, also known as phononic crystals or PCs, is prohibited in certain frequency ranges, which are referred to as the frequency band-gaps. The existence, the location and the width of the frequency band-gaps are mainly determined by the geometrical parameters and the material properties of the PCs. In this work, a virtual acoustic laboratory based on a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model is developed to determine the sound insulation capacity of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) periodic walls. The FSI model is discretized using the frequency-domain spectral element method (FDSEM), which is an advanced finite element method (FEM) using special high-order shape functions. Following the guidelines of the ISO10140, the setup of the developed FSI model allows us to take into account the essential physical phenomena, especially the interaction of the wall structure with the fluid domains (air). The FSI model based on the FDSEM increases the computational efficiency and accuracy in comparison with the standard FEM. Several numerical examples will be presented and discussed to show that the designed periodic walls in certain frequency ranges within the band-gaps may exhibit much better sound insulation capabilities than monolithic walls.