Acoustic metasurfaces as sound diffusers and diffsorbers

Abstract

Acoustic metasurfaces (AMS) may offer additional design space for the creation of sound diffusers and diffsorbers. We present the design and experimental characterization of an AMS created to diffuse sound fields using a treatment of uniform thickness. The AMS unit cell designs were chosen to minimize viscous losses while enabling control of reflected phase at each point of the AMS. The design geometry was then optimized with a parametric sweep of unit cell dimensions using finite element (FE) models where the target phase shifts are associated with a one- and two-dimensional quadratic residue diffuser (QRD). Samples were fabricated using additive manufacturing and impedance tube measurements were conducted to validate FE predictions. Modeled and measured reflection coefficients were shown to be in good agreement. The scattered field was then measured in an anechoic chamber using the logarithmic frequency modulated chirp excitation and the deconvolution methods to provide narrowband and broadband estimates of sound diffusion performance. Overall performance is presented for narrow-band and broadband considerations. The AMS response is compared and contrasted with traditional QRD designs, highlighting differences in frequency- and angle-dependence as well as temporal diffusion and absorption. [S.N.L. is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA Contract No. DE-NA0003525.]