Modelling of Rigid-Frame Porous Materials: A Simple Approach

This paper is concerned with the modelling of rigid-frame porous materials. Currently there are very simple models which describe the acoustic behaviour of such materials, and there are also very complicated models. The aim of this paper is to present a model which occupies the “middle ground”, but is simple enough to be used by practising noise control engineers. Using concepts of acoustic mass, stiffness and damping, non-dimensional expressions for the acoustic wavenumber and the characteristic impedance of a rigid-frame porous material are derived. These expressions are used to give a “rule of thumb” for the optimum flow resistivity for a given thickness of material.