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Design of acoustic coating for underwater stealth in low-frequency ranges

Article in Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering · January 2024
DOI: 10.1007/s40430-024-04720-5

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Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-024-04720-5

TECHNICAL PAPER

Design of acoustic coating for underwater stealth in low‑frequency

ranges
Mostafa Ranjbar1 · Muhammed Umar Bayer2

Received: 23 October 2023 / Accepted: 15 January 2024

© The Author(s) 2024

Abstract
In this study, it is aimed to protect underwater vehicles against active sonar systems by anechoic coating. A matrix material
with close acoustic impedance to water, resistivity to hydrostatic pressure, suitability for the marine environment, and high
material loss factor is selected. At low frequencies, the inclusions in different shapes and sizes are added to the matrix
material. Since solid inclusions will increase the coating mass considerably, air cavities are preferred as inclusions. More
attention is paid to low-frequency absorption, especially below 1 kHz, because of advancing sonar technology. The acoustic
performance of the designed models is compared in three frequency ranges: low (below 3 kHz), middle (3–6 kHz), and high
(6–10 kHz). The designed models are constructed by considering hydrostatic pressure; hence, volume of air cavities is tried
to decrease, while absorption performance is aimed to increase. Therefore, a conical cavity which commonly used in the
literature is optimized by chancing its dimensions and location. Also, novel approaches, gong shape cavity, and sandglass
cavities are introduced. The results show that, not only cavity shape, but also its location and dimensions are highly influential
on absorption performance. High-volume cavities increase the absorption performance at the low-frequency range, but they
are not effective at high frequencies. The gong shape and sandglass air cavities show broadband absorption; also, gong shape
cavity volume is less than literature models. Thus, its usability increases at deep waters. The results of this study provide
novel underwater acoustic coating models for various applications.

Keywords Underwater · Acoustic · Coating · Stealth · Low frequency

1 Introduction improved to reduce mechanical sounds, especially arising

from aircrafts and cars up to the twentieth century. On the
Metamaterials are novel artificial structures which show other hand, acoustic science finds novel application areas
extraordinary features. The research about metamaterials such as underwater, structural acoustics, automotive, and
began in optics and electrodynamics fields in the 1990s. The aviation [3–7]. The first anechoic structures could be con-
publications in the 2000s [1, 2] could be considered as first sidered as German submarines rubber coatings during World
studies in the acoustic field. Acoustic metamaterials (AM) War II [8].
have been widely studying for a long time, and application Designing novel acoustic absorption structures acceler-
areas are expanding. Acoustic absorption materials were ates with the technological advance in the field of sonar tech-
nology. Nowadays, acoustic absorption materials have been
researched widely in many contents [9, 10]. In particular,
Technical Editor: Samikkannu Raja.
studies in acoustic metamaterials are focused on underwa-
* Mostafa Ranjbar ter applications; most of them aim to obtain high acoustic
[email protected] absorption in wide-frequency range. However, high absorp-
Muhammed Umar Bayer tion is shown only near zone of locally resonant frequencies
[email protected] in a narrowband. This problem could be solved by using lay-
ered structure. Each layer has a unique resonant frequency.
1
Centre for Energy Engineering, School of Water Energy Hence, the complete material has different several resonant
and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK
frequencies. By this way, acoustic absorption performance
2
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Bandirma
Onyedi University, Bandırma, Turkey

Vol.:(0123456789)
140 Page 2 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

could be enhanced. Also, by adding air cavities and metal method is utilized to obtain the absorption performance of
powders, acoustic performance could be improved. slab. Firstly, they introduced two different combinations.
On the other hand, the probability of a fiber-reinforced The difference between these is location of flat steel plate;
structure being visible to the sonar is very low. Therefore, both models consist of epoxy, steel, and soft rubber. The
engineers who want to turn gigantic submarines into ghosts cylindrical form steel plates which surrounded by soft rubber
prefer plastic materials, rubber-like materials, or other behave as different resonators. Therefore, it is expected to
special surface coatings. Thus, they prevent the reflection behave like a multi-resonator. Meng et al. [19] designed an
of acoustic signals and ensure that they are dispersed in all anechoic slab based upon layers of locally resonant acoustic
directions. For underwater acoustic absorption, polymers metamaterial (LRAM). They applied genetic algorithm to
have been a traditional material. Except its high damping optimize underwater acoustic absorption of LRAM. They
properties and close acoustic impedance to water, they determined that layers of slab oscillate independently
have high resistance to water, corrosion, and abrasion, also, depending own resonant frequency. They determined that
high thermal and electrical insulation [11]. Polymers are each layer of anechoic slab oscillate depending on resonant
effective absorption materials with a certain frequency frequency, hence, proposed that independent oscillate modes
level. Moreover, broadband acoustic absorption could not occur. Their experimental and theoretical results indicate
be achieved yet by these novel materials especially below that various types of scatterers with different resonances
100 Hz [12]. To obtain high acoustic absorption at low enhance acoustic absorption characteristics in wide-
frequencies, mostly used approaches contain air cavities frequency range. They determined that some parameters
[13], metal filler [14], and polymers [15]. such as thickness of layers, lattice constants, and shape of
Gao et al. [14] designed a metamaterial which consists of scatterers are vital to optimization process of underwater
conical air cavity, metal filler, and backing steel. They aimed anechoic layers. Wang et al. [20] designed a metastructure
to obtain high acoustic absorption at low frequencies. They which consist of one and double microperforated panels with
selected the matrix material as viscoelastic rubber because of backing cavities (MPPB). They suggest that it provides high
its high damping properties. Moreover, metal filler enhances underwater acoustic absorption in wide-frequency range,
the longitudinal to shear wave transformations. The conical especially, at low frequencies. Adding one more MPPB to
air cavity increases the acoustic absorption performance of the structure increases the number of absorption peaks at
metamaterial, especially, at low frequencies. They performed higher frequencies. However, at low frequencies, while the
the analysis as 2D and 3D. Also, to verify the FEA model, number of MPPB is increasing, absorption performance of
the transfer matrix method is applied to the metamaterial. the structure is nearly unchanged.
Wang et al. [16] proposed an underwater metamaterial In this study, to pretend underwater vehicles against
layer which consists of several steel scatters and rubber active sonar systems, an anechoic coating metamaterial is
as soft matrix material. The dimensions of scatters are set designed. Firstly, a matrix material is chosen that hosts the
as parameters, and several parametric studies are done to internal geometry. After, several air cavities with different
reach high acoustic absorption performance. Also, effect of shape, size, and location are added the matrix material. The
adding a metal backing to the metamaterial is investigated. significant factors are determined to be done parametric
Their results show that increasing number of scatters studies and optimization process. The finite element analyses
enhances the sound absorption in several frequency ranges. are done as 3D via COMSOL Multiphysics 6.1 acoustic
Yang et al. [17] proposed a novel hybrid metastructure module.
design for underwater acoustic absorption which consists
of air cavities and locally resonant metastructure. They
proposed that the absorption performance of air embedded
rubber with steel backing could be improved by the locally 2 Materials and method
resonant metastructure. Their results show that locally
resonant scatterers cause wave attenuation, inertial loss, Acoustic coatings could be fitted different parts of
and impedance matching with water. The combination of air submarine hull such as bridge fin, pressure hull, and
cavities which are efficient at high frequencies, and locally bridge casing according to needs. Also, there are several
resonant scatters which are efficient at low frequencies, non-acoustic needs in naval architecture while fitting
provide broadband absorption performance. Jin et al. acoustic coating. They could be listed as, limited coating
[18] proposed a novel underwater acoustic metamaterial thickness (generally a few centimeters), density, and static
which consists of air cavities and periodic multi-resonator compressibility, convenient thermal conductivity, resistance
which embedded in sound insulation and absorption layer, to environmental conditions, availability for gluing process,
respectively. To optimize acoustic performance of slab, and fire resistance. Designed structure must be respond these
interior geometries of layers are arranged; finite element requirements.
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 3 of 13 140

Table 1  Some materials with characteristic specific acoustic imped- are filled with air. The acoustic-solid coupling employs
ances [21] continuity boundary conditions at the interface between
Materials Speed of Density (kg/m3) Impedance (Rayl) pressure acoustics and solid mechanics. Also, bottom side
sound (m/s) of the steel backing is set as low reflection boundary. Initial
sound waves which generated with port section are plane
Air 340 1.23 418
waves. The material of backing steel properties is: Young’s
Water 1490 1053 1.56 × ­106
modulus E = 3.6 × 105 (MPa), Poisson’s ratio 𝜍 = 0.28 .
Aluminum 6420 2690 1.73 × ­107
Polyurethane’s Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio are 3.59
PDMS 1119 969 1.08 × ­106
(MPa) and 0.49, respectively. Acoustic velocity, dynamic
Steel 5950 7860 4.64 × ­107
viscosity, and density of water are 1448 m/s, and 1.3 mPa.s,
Epoxy 2490 1180 2.95 × ­106
and 1000 kg/ ­m3, respectively.
PU 1040 1528 1.59 × ­106
The acoustic pressure is determined by solving the
Ecoflex 989 1070 1.06 × ­106
Helmholtz equation given below:
( )
∇2 pp + k2 pp = 0 (1)
0 0
Table 2  Loss factors of some Materials Loss factor
materials [23–25] where p0 is the density of water, p is sound pressure,
PDMS ≈ 0.15 k = 2𝜋f ∕c0 is wave number in a fluid medium, where c0 and
Epoxy ≈ 0.039 f represent sound velocity of water and frequency, and ∇ is
Steel 0.2 ∼ 3 × ­10–4 the Laplacian operator.
Aluminum 0.3 ∼ 10 × ­10–5 The magnitude of the incident sound pressure is set to
PU ≈ 0.05–0.15 1 Pa. The outer side of the steel backing and matrix material
is chosen as the fixed constraint. Numerical simulation is
used to compute the reflected sound pressure. The reflection
2.1 Underwater acoustic absorption mechanism coefficient R is determined by the following calculation,
pr
Polymers show high acoustic absorption performance due
R= pi (2)
to their damping properties and close acoustic impedance to
water. Characteristic specific impedances of some materials where pr , and pi represent reflected and incident wave
are shown in Table 1. Moreover, to enhance the acoustic pressures, respectively.
performance of polymers, matrix materials, air cavities are Consequently, the absorption coefficient could be
quite helpful, especially at low frequencies. In polymers, calculated as
incident wave acoustic energy is converted to heat and vibra- 𝛼 = 1 − |R|2 (3)
tion; hence, the energy is dissipated.
The loss factor is defined as the ratio of imaginary part
of phase angle to real part of phase angle [22] and increases 2.2 Design and optimization
loss factor result of high acoustic sound absorption in water
domain. Table 2 shows the loss factors comparison with While designing the anechoic coating, studies in literature
some materials using underwater acoustic applications are based on [14, 26] and marine requests are considered
and other materials. Adding inclusions to underwater such as density and water resistivity. Also, several
metamaterial introduces additional mechanisms for dimensional concerns are examined in terms of submarine
underwater acoustic absorption such as friction, resonance, sailing. After that, the matrix material which hosts the
and wave mode conversion. Inclusions which embedded internal air cavity is chosen as polyurethane, a kind of
to matrix material have own natural frequencies; hence, polymer due to its high damping features [27]. Frequently
as incident waves get closer to their natural frequency, used coating materials are shown in Table 3.
metamaterial tends to resonance. Therefore, absorption The coating consists of unit cells. The external shape of
peaks are shown with resonances. the acoustic coating unit cell is designed as hexagon, and it
The sound absorption coefficient of the anechoic coatings shown in Fig. 1a. The hexagonal unit cells could be united
is calculated using the COMSOL Multiphysics TM 6.0, without interior gaps. The bottom hexagon and the top hexa-
which is used to construct the numerical model. The gons represent the backing steel and water domain, respec-
matrix material and steel backing are represented as solid tively. The mid-hexagon is the matrix material PU. The
mechanics domains, whereas the water domain and cavities backing steel and water domain thickness are set as 10 mm.
are represented as pressure acoustics domains. The cavities The air cavities are placed in the PU (mid-hexagon). The
140 Page 4 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

Table 3  Materials classes of country-based submarines [28, 29] 30 mm in all models. The gong shape air cavity is obtained
Country Acoustic Coating Substrates
from the literature [30], and all dimensions are shown in
Table 4.
Germany Composite rubber
USA Polyurethane, glass fiber, butyl rubber 2.3 Mesh sensitivity study
Russia Styrene-butadiene rubber, polybutadiene rubber
France Polyurethane, polysulfide rubber To obtain the ideal mesh quality, a mesh sensitivity study
UK Polyurethane is conducted. Three types of mesh quality, namely Mesh-A
Japan Neoprene (coarse), Mesh-B (medium), and Mesh-C (fine), are com-
China Styrene-butadiene rubber, polyurethane pared via gong shape cavity model (h3 = 22 mm). For each
three types of mesh, unstructured mesh type is utilized.
It was observed that between A and B type mesh quality,
width of the one side of hexagon is set as 20 mm. Therefore, approximately relative error (%) is between 0,11,054 and
width of one-unit cell is 40 mm. Technical drawing of one of 0,360,586, and between B and C type is between 0,041272
the designed models is shown in Fig. 1b. The dimensions are and 0,101,758 for 1–10-kHz interval. Therefore, after C type
used as same representation in other models. The analyses mesh, there was no need to increase the mesh quality. Fig-
are done by using the Bloch period boundary to three sym- ure 2 shows the meshed bodies, and Table 5 shows the mesh
metric boundaries of hexagonal unit cell [14]. By this way, quality-dependent absorption performance and approxi-
the computational time is reduced. mately relative errors between different types of meshes.
The distance between upper surface of first cavity and The detailed information about utilized mesh type, Mesh-C
lower surface of water domain is represented as h2, and is given in Table 6.
the distance from upper surface of second cavity and lower
surface of water domain is represented as h3. The top and
bottom radius of conical cavity are represented as r1 and r2, 3 Results and discussion
respectively, and h1 represents the length of conical cavity.
The thickness of water domain and backing steel are repre- There are several parameters which affect the absorption
sented as h_water and h_steel, respectively. Both are set as performance of coating such as thickness of matrix mate-
10 mm in all models. The width of one-unit cell is 40 mm; a rial, form, dimensions, and location of air cavity. Firstly, in
represents the half of the width of 20 mm. The thickness of optimization section each parameter is examined separately.
matrix material is represented as h_matrix, and it is set as After determined the optimum value of each parameter, all

Fig. 1  a Hexagonal unit cell, b FEM model, and c technical drawing of basic unit cell

Table 4  Dimensions of the Variable H1 (m) H2 (m) D1 (m) D2 (m) t (m) 𝜃

gong
Value 0.03 0.0145 0.0615 0.1125 0.002 15.87o
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 5 of 13 140

material and backing steel is analyzed. Figure 3a shows the

model and acoustic performance of this model.
Moreover, a conical cavity with 14 mm long with 1-
and 15-mm top and bottom radius, respectively, is added
to matrix material. The length and bottom radius of the
cone kept constant, and the top radius of cone is set as 1,
4, 7, and 10 mm. The location of the top of cone is below
1 mm the water domain. The air domains are shown as blue.
The acoustic performance of these parameters is shown in
Fig. 3b. Also, the bottom radius of conical air cavity is con-
sidered as a significant parameter in terms of acoustic per-
formance. Therefore, a parametric study is done which based
on the bottom radius. The length, location, and top radius of
the cone are kept constant, and bottom radius is set as 5, 10,
15, and 18 mm. The results of parametric study are shown in
Fig. 2  a Mesh-A (coarse), b Mesh-B (medium), and c Mesh-C (fine) Fig. 3c. After, the top and bottom radius of conical air cav-
meshed bodies for gong shape cavity (h3 = 22 mm) ity kept constant, and length of cavity is set as 6,10, 14, and
18 mm. The results of parametric study are shown in Fig. 3d.
parameters are examined together. So, the effect of each The location of air cavity is significant in terms of
parameter on each other could be seen. Recently, absorber impedance matching between the coating and water
structure design met two concepts: soft coating and gradient domain. Therefore, a parametric study based on the
medium [4]. The reflection coefficient of absorber tends to location of air cavity is done. The top and bottom radius
decrease with these two conditions. Soft coating is fulfilled of conical cavity is 1 and 15 mm, respectively, in this
by using PU and gradient mediums are used in the matrix analysis. The length of the cavity is 14 mm. The dis-
material. After the material selection of matrix material is tance between surface of coating and the top of conical
done, geometric conditions of cavity are examined. Air cav-
ity could be in the cylindrical form; thus, absorption perfor-
mance of pure PU could be enhanced. However, gradient Table 6  Utilized element statistics (Mesh-C)
condition is not satisfied with this form, and the absorption Number of elements 37,609
performance is limited. To obtain high absorption, cylindrical Minimum element quality 0.2423
form is transformed into conical cavity form. The effect of Average element quality 0.6918
the dimensions of conical cavity (top and bottom radius and Element volume ratio 1.026E-4
thickness) and location of it, are analyzed. Firstly, the model Mesh volume 4330 ­mm3
which consists of pure PU with 30 mm thickness as matrix

Table 5  Mesh convergences

Mesh-A (course) Mesh-B (medium) Mesh-C (fine)

Number of elements 5027 18,266 37,609

Frequency (kHz) Sound absorption coefficient Approximately Sound absorption coefficient Approximately Sound
relative error (%) relative error (%) absorption
(A-B) (A-B) coefficient
1 0.64452 0.19021 0.64575 0.05245 0.64609
2 0.78105 0.16892 0.77973 0.04811 0.77936
3 0.82331 0.32227 0.82067 0.09109 0.81992
4 0.83504 0.36058 0.83204 0.10175 0.83120
5 0.83325 0.32650 0.83054 0.09229 0.82977
6 0.82619 0.26192 0.82403 0.07466 0.82341
7 0.81717 0.20000 0.81554 0.05835 0.81506
8 0.80691 0.15027 0.80570 0.04783 0.80532
9 0.79674 0.12387 0.79575 0.04353 0.79541
10 0.78550 0.11054 0.78463 0.04127 0.78431
140 Page 6 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

Fig. 3  a Pure PU, b top radius, c bottom radius, and d height-based optimizations

cavity is set as 1, 5, 9, and 13 mm. The results are shown loud sounds thanks to its high vibration feature. Sound
in Fig. 4a. After each parameter is examined separately, absorption is provided by dissipated initial sound energy.
top and bottom radius of conical cavity are examined The initial sound energy turns into other kind of energies
together. The results are shown in Fig. 4b. Optimization such as vibration and heat. Because it turns the force into
studies are also carried out by reducing the dimensions sound energy, with reverse logic, it was predicted that a gong
of conical cavity. Firstly, all the dimensions of the cav- shaped air cavity could convert sound energy into other
ity reduced by 20%. So, top and bottom radius are set kind of energies. The model dimensions are taken from the
as 0.2 and 3 mm, respectively. The length of the cavity literature [30]. It is expected that the incident sound wave
is set as 2.8 mm, and the location of the cavity is kept energy transforms into vibration, and heat energy thanks to
constant, 1 mm below from the upper surface of coating. gong air cavity. The technical drawing of the gong is shown
The results are shown as Fig. 4c. Also, the optimization in Fig. 6b. In this study, width of the coating is 40 mm;
of reduced conical cavity is done with parametric study. hence, the traditional gong model is not directly applicable
The reduced model is set as 20%, 50%, 80%, and 100% to matrix material. Therefore, all of the dimensions of gong
of top and bottom radius 1 and 15 mm, respectively. The are offset according to width of the model proposed in this
length of cavity is set as 2.8 mm. The results are shown study (40 mm).
in Fig. 4d. The location of cavity is kept constant, 1 mm Consequently, the literature model with 112.5 mm width
below the upper surface of the coating. reduced to 15 mm with dimension of reduction ratio of
Also, an array designed is arranged as array with 1-mm 0.133; at the same time, all other dimensions are reduced
gap horizontally and vertically. To obtain conical array, the according to the certain ratio. Also, a parametric study
model arranged conically in both interior and exterior geom- which examines the location of the gong shape cavity is
etry. The result is shown in Fig. 5a. A novel approach, which done. In this analysis the distance between upper surface
proposed in this study, is adding a traditional gong geometry of gong and upper surface of coating is set as a parameter.
as air cavity to matrix material. Gong is a traditional musi- Figure 5b shows the model and parametric study results of
cal instrument, especially in Asian countries. Even when gong shape cavity. Moreover, the length of the gong must be
small forces are applied to this instrument, it produces very reduced because the model width is 40 mm. However, the
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 7 of 13 140

Fig. 4  a Conical cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 15, h1 = 14 mm) distance from upper surface-based optimization, b top–bottom radius-based optimization, c
80% reduced model, and d comparison of other reduced models (80,50, and 20% reduced models)

thickness of gong could be increased. So, the thickness of In the low-frequency range, especially, under 100 Hz,
gong is set as 2 mm, and distance between the upper surface the conical air cavity (r1 = 10, r2 = 15, h1 = 14, h2 = 1 mm)
of gong and upper surface of coating is set as a parameter model shows good absorption performance. However,
(h3). Figure 5c shows the model and results of parametric its performance decreases over 100 Hz; also fluctuations
study. Effect of conical cavity on acoustic performance is occur along 3 kHz. The performance of the conical cavity
observed. Therefore, it is aimed to enhance its performance (r1 = 0.8, r2 = 12, h1 = 2.8 mm, h2 = 1 mm) has also fluctu-
by designing novel gradient cavity. Sandglass model is firstly ated. The 22 sandglasses model with a gong (h3 = 22 mm)
introduced. The model is arranged as arrays no gap in verti- shows good absorption after 600 Hz, and their performance
cally and 1 mm gap horizontally. Moreover, a parametric tends to increase along 3 kHz. The conical cavity (r1 = 1,
study is done to determine effect of number of sandglasses. r2 = 15, h1 = 14, and h2 = 1 mm) and just gong shape cavity
Firstly, 25 sandglasses are designed as shown in Fig. 7. (h3 = 22 mm) are better in terms of stability; also at lower
After, 25, 22, 18, 13 sandglasses models are analyzed. The frequencies above 600 Hz, its performance is in the middle
acoustic performance of the models is shown in Fig. 5d. of all models that could be shown in Fig. 9.
The parametric studies based on conical air cavity dimen- In the middle-frequency range, the critical models are
sions and location are examined with/without gong shape selected again, as shown in Fig. 10. All selected critical
air cavity. To observe effect of gong, conical air cavity with models in this region show stable absorption performance;
r1 = 1 mm, and r2 = 15 mm are examined with/without gong there are small fluctuations which could be ignored. The
shape air cavity (h3 = 22 mm) and are shown in Fig. 8a. For performance of the 25 sandglasses model with gong shape
bottom radius, r2 = 5 mm is selected, and results are shown cavity (h3 = 22 mm) is the best one along 3–6 kHz. The
in Fig. 8b, For cavity length, h1 = 6 mm is selected, and gong shape cavity model (h3 = 22 mm), and 80% reduced
results are shown in Fig. 8c. For combined parametric study conical cavity array with gong shape cavity (h3 = 22 mm)
based on top–bottom radius the critical values are selected as show similar results over 4.5 kHz, but under this value, the
r1 = 7 mm, and r2 = 15 mm, and results are shown in Fig. 8d. performance of the gong shape cavity model (h3 = 22 mm)
is better. The 18 sandglasses model and the conical cavity
 140 Page 8 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

Fig. 5  a Reduced conical air cavity array, b gong shaped air cavity distance from upper surface-based optimization, c increased thickness gong
shaped air cavity distance from upper surface-based optimization, and d sandglasses models

Fig. 6  a A traditional gong, b

its technical drawing

(r1 = 1, r2 = 10, h1 = 14 mm, h2 = 1 mm) model are similar cavity (h3 = 22) is better than the others along 6–10 kHz.
along 3–6 kHz. Also, the conical cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 15, The conical cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 5, h1 = 14, and h2 = 1 mm)
h1 = 18 mm, h2 = 1 mm) shows a little lower performance shows lower performance than others under 7.8 kHz, but it
than the other critical models. is in a narrow range and could be ignored (Fig. 12).
The third region is between 6 and 10 kHz, the critical High and stable acoustic performance is observed
models are selected, and their acoustic absorption per- in gong shape cavity, especially above 3.6 kHz; also it
formances are shown in Fig. 11. All models show similar has the lowest cavity volume. On the other hand, coni-
performances between 0.75 and 0.89. However, the per- cal cavity model achieves high acoustic performance in
formance of the 25 sandglasses model with gong shape low frequencies; also it has the highest cavity volume.
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 9 of 13 140

PU model, Fig. 13b,e,h, are considered. The magnitude

of deformation changes by the frequency. To specify a
certain frequency value for the deformation analyses,
acoustic performance of the models is considered. Maxi-
mum absorption performance difference is determined
between pure PU, gong shape cavity, and conical cavity
models. The difference between pure PU and gong shape
models is 0.303 (B1-B2) at 1.3 kHz, between pure PU
and conical cavity models is 0.373 (A1-A2) at 0.5 kHz,
between conical cavity and gong shape cavity is 0.253
(C1-C2) at 3.6 kHz. Therefore, 0.5 kHz, 1.3 kHz, and
3.6 kHz are determined as key points. Figure 12 shows
the maximum performance differences between the mod-
els. As shown as Fig. 13, highest deformation values are
observed at 0.5 kHz, 1.3 kHz, and 3.6 kHz, respectively. It
was observed that cavities increase the deformation mag-
Fig. 7  a Sandglass unit cell dimensions (mm), b the model interior nitudes and directs to a specific region. The initial acoustic
geometry with 25 sandglasses energy turns into vibration and heat energy, and vibration
is the main cause of deformation rate. Hence, the acous-
tic absorption performance is related to the deformations.
The pure PU model does not contain any cavity, and this High deformation rates in broad field could be considered
situation highly affects the deformation conditions. Due high acoustic performance. At 0.5 kHz and 1.3 kHz, cavi-
to these reasons, gong shape cavity (h3 = 22 mm) model, ties increase and concentrate deformations on a particular
Fig. 13c,f,i, conical cavity model, Fig. 13a,d,g, and pure region compared with the pure PU model. At 3.6 kHz,

Fig. 8  a Conical cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 15, h1 = 14 mm) with/without gong, b conical cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 5, h1 = 14 mm) with/without gong, c coni-
cal cavity (r1 = 1, r2 = 15, h1 = 6 mm) with/without gong, and d conical cavity (r1 = 7, r2 = 15, h1 = 14 mm) with/without gong
140 Page 10 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

Fig. 9  Acoustic absorption

performances of the selected
models in below 3 kHz

Fig. 10  Acoustic absorption

performances of the selected
models in 3–6 kHz

gong shape cavity model achieves higher performance and metamaterial would be the first choice. However, there
deformation rates are high at a wide area. are still several issues that must be overcome for totally
protecting from sonar systems. Firstly, absorption at
low frequencies is a significant problem. Furthermore,
4 Conclusion metamaterial coating must be light, short, and resistant
to hydrostatic pressure and compatible with the marine
Acoustic metamaterials have been researched for a few environment. Also, its absorption performance should
decades, but most of these studies are related to air not be limited for specific frequencies; it should provide
borne acoustic. Underwater acoustic metamaterials are broadband acoustic absorption.
not common as much as air borne. Nevertheless, with In this study, firstly, the literature is examined and with
progressing naval technologies and their critical role in the obtained data, a default model which consists of a
military, water-borne acoustic gains a great importance. matrix material (PU), steel backing (HY-80), and conical
While the underwater acoustic studies tend to military air cavity, is constructed. After, each dimension data are
field, sonar technology has advanced. To take precautions set as a parameter, and several parametric studies have
against advanced sonar systems, underwater acoustic been done. The results show that each dimension of conical
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 11 of 13 140

Fig. 11  Acoustic absorption

performances of the selected
models in 6–10 kHz

Fig. 12  Maximum absorp-

tion performance differences
between the selected models

air cavity is a significant parameter (r1,r2,h1,h2). Also, changing its material from copper to air, and reducing its
the different combinations of these parameters affect the dimensions by a reduction coefficient, a gong shape air
absorption performance significantly. Generally, at low- cavity is constructed. Its location is set as a parameter,
frequency range, acoustic performance is strongly related and effect of location is examined. It is seen that while the
to air volume; increasing air volume improves the absorption distance between upper surface of gong and lower surface
performance. The location of air cavity is other significant of water medium (h3) increases, absorption performance
parameter, and it is seen that increasing distance between of gong increases at middle- and high-frequency ranges.
upper surface of cavity, and lower surface of water (h2), However, at low-frequency range, the distance must be
improves absorption performances at middle- and high- decreased to obtain high absorption performance. Also,
frequency ranges. But in low-frequency range, these are effect of adding gong shape air cavity on other models
opposite to each other. is examined, and the results show that it increases the
Moreover, two novel approaches which proposed in absorption performance of low-volume air cavities. Nev-
this study are introduced to the matrix material. The ertheless, when the air cavity volume is large enough, its
gong shape is known with its strong vibration feature. By effect is slight. Since anechoic coatings must be used in
deep waters, hydrostatic pressure is a significant factor.
 140 Page 12 of 13 Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140

Fig. 13  Total vibration displacements at 0.5 kHz (a,b,c), 1.3 kHz (d,e,f), and 3.6 kHz (g,h,i)
Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (2024) 46:140 Page 13 of 13 140

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