Topology Optimization of Sound-Absorbing Materials for Two-Dimensional Acoustic Problems Using Isogeometric Boundary Element Method

Abstract

In this work, an acoustic topology optimization method for structural surface design covered by porous materials is proposed. The analysis of acoustic problems is performed using the isogeometric boundary element method. Taking the element density of porous materials as the design variable, the volume of porous materials as the constraint, and the minimum sound pressure or maximum scattered sound power as the design goal, the topology optimization is carried out by solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method. To get a limpid 0–1 distribution, a smoothing Heaviside-like function is proposed. To obtain the gradient value of the objective function, a sensitivity analysis method based on the adjoint variable method (AVM) is proposed. To find the optimal solution, the optimization problems are solved by the method of moving asymptotes (MMA) based on gradient information. Numerical examples verify the effectiveness of the proposed topology optimization method in the optimization process of two-dimensional acoustic problems. Furthermore, the optimal distribution of sound-absorbing materials is highly frequency-dependent and usually needs to be performed within a frequency band.