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Recent trends in waste management have initiated interest in recycled materials for sound absorption applications. The present paper studies the possibility of paper sludge to be recycled as material for sound absorption applications. Paper sludge (PS) is the water treatment waste, produced during paper production. Two different methods were studied to produce paper sludge and slaked lime composite acoustic panels for sound absorption applications at low and mid-frequencies. The sound absorption coefficient of paper sludge composite panels is measured in an impedance tube using the two-microphone method. The samples produced with different methods showed different behaviours of sound absorption. The primary method to produce showed acoustic asymmetry in the vertical direction of the samples, and it was considerably fragile as well. An improved method to produce PS composite panels was proposed in this paper. Using this method, homogenous and robust acoustic panels were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a 3-dimensional fully natural sonic crystal composed of spherical aggregates of fibers (called Aegagropilae) resulting from the decomposition of Posidonia Oceanica. The fiber network is first acoustically characterized, providing insights on this natural fiber entanglement due to turbulent flow. The Aegagropilae are then arranged on a principal cubic lattice. The band diagram and topology of this structure are analyzed, notably via Argand representation of its scattering elements. This fully natural sonic crystal exhibits excellent sound absorbing properties and thus represents a sustainable alternative that could outperform conventional acoustic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical and experimental study of the propagation of sound beams in- and behind three-dimensional sonic crystals at frequencies close to the band edges is presented. An efficient collimation of the beam behind the crystal is predicted and experimentally demonstrated. This effect could allow the design of sources of high spatial quality sound beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work theoretically analyzes the sound absorption properties of a chirped multi-layer porous material including transmission, in particular showing the broadband unidirectional absorption properties of the system. Using the combination of the impedance matching condition and the balance between the leakage and the intrinsic losses, the system is designed to have broadband unidirectional and quasi perfect absorption. The transfer and scattering matrix formalism, together with numerical simulations based on the finite element method are used to demonstrate the results showing excellent agreement between them. The proposed system allows to construct broadband sound absorbers with improved absorption in the low frequency regime using less amount of material than the complete bulk porous layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asymmetric propagation of acoustic waves is theoretically reported in a chirped phononic crystal made of the combination of two different nonlinear solids. The dispersion of the system is spatially dependent and allows the rainbow trapping inside the structure. Nonlinearity is used to activate the self-demodulation effect, which is enhanced due to the particular dispersion characteristics of the system. The performed numerical study reveals an efficient generation of the demodulated wave, up to 15% in terms of the pressure amplitude, as well as strong attenuation for undesired frequency components above the cut-off frequency. The obtained energy rectification ratio is in the order of 104 for the whole range of amplitudes employed in this work, indicating the robustness of the asymmetry and non-reciprocity of the proposed device for a wide operational range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhancement of sound inside a two dimensional exponentially chirped crystal during the soft reflections of waves is experimentally and theoretically explored in this work. The control of this enhancement is achieved by a gradual variation of the dispersion in the system by means of a chirp of the lattice constant. The sound enhancement is produced at some planes of the crystal in which the wave is softly reflected due to a progressive slowing down of the sound wave. We find that the character of the sound enhancement depends on the function of the variation of dispersion, i.e., on the function of the chirp. A simple coupled mode theory is proposed to find the analytical solutions of the sound wave enhancement in the exponentially chirped crystal. Harmonic and time domain numerical simulations are performed to interpret the concept of the soft reflections, and to check the analytically calculated field distributions both in good agreement with experiments. Specially we obtain stronger sound enhancement than in linearly chirped crystals. This sound enhancement could motivate applications in energy harvesting, e.g., to increase the efficiency of detectors and absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the propagation of waves in a periodic array of absorbing layers. We report an anomalous increase of wave transmission through the structure related to a decrease of the absorption around the Bragg frequencies. The effect is first discussed in terms of a generic coupled wave model extended to include losses, and its predictions can be applied to different types of waves propagating in media with periodic modulation of the losses at the wavelength scale. The particular case of sound waves in an array of porous layers embedded in air is considered. An experiment designed to test the predictions demonstrates the existence of the enhanced transmission band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the design of a structured material supporting complete absorption of sound with a broadband response and functional for any direction of incident radiation. The structure which is fabricated out of porous lamellas is arranged into a low-density crystal and backed by a reflecting support. Experimental measurements show that strong all-angle sound absorption with almost zero reflectance takes place for a frequency range exceeding two octaves. We demonstrate that lowering the crystal filling fraction increases the wave interaction time and is responsible for the enhancement of intrinsic material dissipation, making the system more absorptive with less material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sound diffuser is proposed based on sonic crystals, structures formed by a periodic distribution of cylindrical scatterers in a host medium, which is usually air. The diffuser is a so-called biperiodic structure, as formed by two arrays of sonic crystals with slightly different periodicities. Large diffusivity at low frequencies is achieved when the typical scale of the blocks is much larger than the periodicity of the crystals, determined by its lattice constant. An interpretation of the low frequency behavior of the diffuser is given in the homogenization limit in terms of multiple reflections and interference between the fields scattered by the different blocks. It is also shown that sonic crystal based diffusers enhance time spreading in comparison with other conventional diffusers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a mechanism of sound wave concentration based on soft reflections in chirped sonic crystals. The reported controlled field enhancement occurs at around particular (bright) planes in the crystal and is related to a progressive slowing down of the sound wave as it propagates along the material. At these bright planes, a substantial concentration of the energy (with a local increase up to 20 times) was obtained for a linear chirp and for frequencies around the first band gap. A simple couple mode theory is proposed that interprets and estimates the observed effects. Wave concentration energy can be applied to increase the efficiency of detectors and absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the case of focusing transducers with a strong initial (in linear regime) shift of the main on-axis peak pressure maximum from the geometrical focal point toward the transducer. Such transducers are characterized, using the concepts introduced in this paper, by a low Fresnel number. The displacement of this initially shifted on-axis pressure maximum point toward the geometrical focus, and its backward motion as the driving transducer voltage increases until highly nonlinear regimes, has been experimentally observed. The simultaneous monitoring of the temporal wave-form distortion determines the real roles and interplay between different nonlinear effects (refraction and attenuation) in the observed dynamics of the on-axis pressure maximum. The numerical solution of the corresponding mathematical model confirms the physical interpretation of the observed phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dynamical system of equations describing parametric sound generation (PSG) in a dispersive large aspect ratio resonator is derived. The model generalizes previously proposed descriptions of PSG by including diffraction effects and is analogous to the model used in theoretical studies of optical parametric oscillation. A linear stability analysis of the solution below the threshold of subharmonic generation reveals the existence of a pattern forming instability, which is confirmed by numerical integration. The conditions of emergence of periodic patterns in transverse space are discussed in the acoustical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous self-collimation of sound beams with different frequencies, corresponding to fundamental wave and to its second harmonic, is proposed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. The result is obtained when the isofrequency contours for each harmonics, corresponding to different propagation bands, develop flat segments along the same direction. The effect can be utilized for managing (enhancement and control) of nonlinear frequency mixing of narrow sound beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report Bessel-like beam formation of acoustic waves by means of an axisymmetric grating of rigid tori. The results show that the generated beam pattern is similar to that of Bessel beams, characterized by elongated non-diffracting focal spots. A multiple foci structure is observed, due to the finite size of the lens. The dependence of the focal distance on the frequency is also discussed, on the basis of an extended grating theory. Experimental validation of acoustic Bessel-like beam formation is also reported for sound waves. The results can be generalized to wave beams of different nature, as optical or matter waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symmetry matching between the source and the lens results in fundamental interest for lensing applications. In this work, we have modeled an axisymmetric gradient index (GRIN) lens made of rigid toroidal scatterers embedded in air considering this symmetry matching with radially symmetric sources. The sound amplification obtained in the focal spot of the reported lens (8.24 dB experimentally) shows the efficiency of the axisymmetric lenses with respect to the previous Cartesian acoustic GRIN lenses. The axisymmetric design opens new possibilities in lensing applications in different branches of science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]