The present disclosure generally relates to systems and devices for absorbing flexural waves acting upon a structure.
The background description provided is to present the context of the disclosure generally. Work of the inventors, to the extent it may be described in this background section, and aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
Flexural waves, sometimes called bending waves, deform the structure transversely as they propagate. Flexural waves are more complicated than compressional or shear waves and depend on material and geometric properties. Airborne noises can be created by flexural waves when an object comes into contact with a structure subjected to a flexural wave. Flexural vibrations of thin structures, such as beams, plates, and shells are the most common noise source caused by flexural waves.
Traditional sound absorption methods have been utilized to reduce noise caused by flexural waves, including installing sound absorbing materials that absorb radiated sound, applying damping materials to reduce vibration, and/or adding high-mass structures to prevent the passage of vibrations. However, these traditional sound absorption methods only reduce the airborne noise and do not significantly impact the flexural wave, which is the root cause of the airborne noise.
This section generally summarizes the disclosure and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all its features.
In one example, a pair of scatterers for absorbing a flexural wave acting on a structure includes a monopole scatterer and a dipole scatterer configured to be mounted to the structure at the same location. The monopole scatterer and the dipole scatterer may have resonant frequencies similar to the flexural wave acting upon the structure.
In another example, relating to a system, a pair of scatterers include a monopole scatterer disposed on the structure at a location and a dipole scatterer disposed on the structure at the same location. Like before, the monopole scatterer and the dipole scatterer may have resonant frequencies similar to the flexural wave acting upon the structure.
Further areas of applicability and various methods of enhancing the disclosed technology will become apparent from the description provided. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for illustration only and not to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various systems and other embodiments of the disclosure. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one embodiment of the boundaries. In some embodiments, one element may be designed as multiple elements, or multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some embodiments, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
Described are systems utilizing scatterers for absorbing flexural waves acting on a structure. Systems that utilize the scatterers may be able to absorb vibrations, including flexural waves in a beam or plate-like structure. In one example, the system utilizes two scatterers—a dipole scatterer with a dipolar resonance and a monopole scatterer with a monopolar resonance. The dipole scatterer and the monopole scatterer are generally located at the same location along the structure such that they overlap with each other and/or the origins of the resonances they produce are adjacent to each other. Each of the scatterers is capable of absorbing 50% of the energy carried by the incident waves. When both are attached to the same location of the structure, the absorption adds up to 100%.
The system 10 includes a monopole scatterer 30 and a dipole scatterer 40 that are generally located at the same location 50 of the structure 20. In this example, the monopole scatterer 30 is attached to the top side 22 of the structure 20, while the dipole scatterer 40 is attached to the bottom side 24 of the structure 20. However, as explained later, the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40 may be located on the same side of the structure 20. However, in either arrangement, the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40 should be located at the same location 50. The monopole scatterer 30 generally resonates in an up-and-down direction 32 with respect to the top side 22 of the structure 20. In contrast, the dipole scatterer 40 generally resonates in a left and right direction 42.
The monopole scatterer 30 generally includes components that can be considered a mass 34, a spring 36, and a damper 38. As such, the monopole scatterer 30 may utilize a softer and lighter material as the spring 36 in the damper 38 and a stiffer and heavier part as the mass 34. The displacement of the structure 20 exerts a force on the monopole scatterer 30 so that it vibrates in the up-and-down direction 32, generating scattered waves propagating symmetrically to both sides of the monopole scatterer 30. Different examples of monopole scatterers will be provided later in this description.
The dipole scatterer 40 generally includes a mass 44 attached to an easy-to-bend structure 46 that acts as a bending spring. The easy-to-bend structure 46 may be accomplished by utilizing a low-stiffness material or thin thickness of the easy-to-bend structure 46. Some substantial damping (typically between 5% to 15%) may be needed in the easy-to-bend structure 46. The rotation of the structure 20 exerts a moment on the dipole scatterer 40 so that it vibrates in the back-and-forth direction 42 along the structure 20. This vibration then generates anti-symmetric scattered ways towards both sides of the dipole scatterer 40. Different examples of dipole scatterers will be provided later in this description.
The location 50 may be defined in a number of different ways. For example, location 50 may be a location of the structure 20 wherein the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40 physically overlap each other along the length 28 of the structure 20. Moreover, the physical portions of the monopole scatterer 30 may overlap the physical portions of the dipole scatterer 40 and/or vice versa. Alternatively, the location 50 may be defined as a location where the origins of the resonances generated by the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40 originate from. The location 50 may be where these origins are adjacent to or overlap.
As explained in more detail later, the resonant frequencies of the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40 are generally substantially equal, i.e., within 20% of each other. Additionally, the frequency of the flexural wave 12 acting upon the structure 20 is also substantially equal, i.e., within 20%, of the resonant frequencies of the monopole scatterer 30 and the dipole scatterer 40. Each of the scatterers is capable of absorbing 50% of the energy carried by the incident waves. When both are attached to the same location of the structure, the absorption adds up to 100%.
The monopole scatterer 130 is shown in more detail in
As to the flexible member 134, the flexible member 134 acts as a spring and damper in a mass-spring-damper system and may be made of a flexible material, such as rubber and soft plastics, such as thermoplastic elastomers, and/or thermoplastic polyurethane. However, the flexible member may be made of any suitable material that allows the flexible member 134 to act as a spring and damper in a mass-spring-damper system.
The solid member 132 may be attached to the flexible member 134 using adhesives. However, the solid member 132 may be attached to the flexible member 134 using a number of different methodologies, such as press-fitting, over-molding, crimping, and/or using retainers, such as screws. The flexible member 134 may be attached to the structure 120 using similar methodologies, such as adhesives, press-fitting, over-molding, crimping, and/or using retainers, such as screws. When monopole scatterer 130 is attached to the structure 120, the flexible member 134 is located between the structure 120 and the solid member 132.
The monopole scatterer 130 may also have a cross-sectional area 136 that may be based on the width of the structure 120 of
The monopole scatterer 130 may have a resonant frequency substantially similar to the resonant frequency of the flexural wave acting upon the structure to which the monopole scatterer 130 is attached. Since the monopole scatterer 130 is a spring-mass-damper system, the lumped mass M of the solid member 132 may be represented as M=ρAh1, wherein ρ is the density of the material that makes up the solid member 132, A is the cross-sectional area of the monopole scatterer 130 is (in particular, the cross-sectional area of the solid member 132), and h1 is the height of the solid member 132. Since the mass of the flexible member 134 may be negligible, the mass of the solid member 132 could be taken as the mass of the monopole scatterer 130.
The lumped stiffness of the monopole scatterer 130 may be represented as κ=EA/(βh2), where E is the Young's modulus of the material that makes up the flexible member 134, A is the cross-sectional area of the monopole scatterer 130 (in particular, the cross-sectional area of the flexible member 134), and h2 is the height of the flexible member 134. The damping property C of the material that makes up the flexible member 134 comes from the viscous damping in the material, which can be modeled as the imaginary part of Young's modulus.
It should be understood that the overall shape of the monopole scatterer 130 can vary from application to application. For example,
The dipole scatterer 140 is shown in more detail in
The support members 141A and 141B may be made of a material that allows for the support members 141A and 141B an easy-to-bend structure that allows for the back-and-forth movement of the mass member 142 upon a flexural wave acting on the structure 120. In some cases, the support members 141A and 141B may be made of plastic, acrylic, rubber, metals, or any other suitable material or combination thereof.
The mass member 142 acts as the mass from the dipole scatterer 140 and may be of any suitable material, such as plastic, acrylic, rubber, metals, or a combination thereof. In some cases, the mass member 142 and the support members 141A and 141B may be made of the same material. Further, in cases where they are made of the same materials, the mass member 142 and the support members 141A and 141B may be a single unitary structure or separate components adhered to or otherwise connected.
Referring back to
The system 100 of
As mentioned when describing the system 10 of
While the monopole scatterer 730 and/or the dipole scatterer 740 can take one of several different forms, reference is made to
In this example, the monopole scatterer 730 includes a pair of supports 732A and 732B. Each of the supports 732A and 732B may be made of a rigid material and be cuboid. However, it should be understood that the supports 732A and 732B may take several different forms and be made of different materials that may be less rigid. Furthermore, in this example, the shapes, dimensions, and materials are nearly identical for the supports 732A and 732B. Still, it should also be understood that the shapes, dimensions, and materials may vary between the supports 732A and 732B.
A flexible material 734 with a top side 736 and a bottom side 737 extends between the two supports 732A and 732B. In this example, the bottom side 737 of the flexible material 734 is connected to and extends between the top sides 733A and 733B of the supports 732A and 732B, respectively. However, it should be understood that the flexible material 734 can extend to and from any portion of the supports 732A and 732B. The flexible material 734 acts as a spring and damper in a mass-spring-damper system and may be made of a flexible material, such as rubber and soft plastics, such as thermoplastic elastomers and/or thermoplastic polyurethane. However, the flexible material 734 may be made of any suitable material that allows the flexible material 734 to act as a spring and damper in a mass-spring-damper system.
A mass 738 is disposed on the top side 736 of the flexible material 734, generally in an area of the flexible material 734 unsupported by the supports 732A and 732B. Due to the flexible nature of the flexible material 734, when the structure 720 experiences vibrations and/or has flexural waves acting upon it, the mass 738 resonates. As such, the mass 738 is the mass in a spring-mass-damper system. Therefore, the resonance of the monopole scatterer 730 is based upon the mass of the mass 738 and the spring/damper characteristics of the flexible material 734. Depending on these variations, the natural resonance of the monopole scatterer 730 can vary considerably.
A distal end 747 of the member 746, opposite the structure 720, may act as a mass. In this example, mass members 748A and 748B are attached to the distal end 747 and act as a mass for the dipole scatterer 740. Again, it should be understood that the members 746 and the mass members 748A and 748B may be made of separate or a single unitary component.
Opposite of the distal end 747 may include support members 742A and 742B that may support the member 746 to the structures 720. Again, support members 742A and 742B may be separate components from that of the member 746 or may be a single unitary component made along with the member 746 and/or the mass members 748A and 748B.
As mentioned before, the monopole scatterer 730 and the dipole scatterer 740 should be located at the same location 750 of the structure 720. The location 750 may be the location where the monopole scatterer 730 and the dipole scatterer 740 overlap each other along the length of the structure 720. Additionally or alternatively, the origins of the resonances produced by the monopole scatterer 730 and the dipole scatterer 740 should be adjacent to each other to have the desired effect of absorbing flexural waves acting upon the structure 720.
The systems and devices described and illustrated in this description can achieve excellent absorption of flexural waves by utilizing a monopole scatterer and a dipole scatterer at the same location on the structure. Each of the scatterers is capable of absorbing 50% of the energy carried by the incident waves. When both are attached to the same location of the structure, the absorption adds up to 100%.
The preceding description is illustrative and does not intend to limit the disclosure, application, or use. The phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A or B or C), using a non-exclusive logical “or.” Disclosure of ranges includes disclosure of all ranges and subdivided ranges within the entire range.
The headings (such as “Background” and “Summary”) and sub-headings used herein are intended only for the general organization of topics within the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the disclosure of the technology or any aspect thereof. The recitation of multiple embodiments with stated features is not intended to exclude other embodiments with additional features or other embodiments incorporating different combinations of the stated features.
As used herein, the terms “comprise” and “include” and their variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in succession or a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that may also be useful in the devices and methods of this technology. Similarly, the terms “can” and “may” and their variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation that an embodiment can or may comprise certain elements or features does not exclude other embodiments of the present technology that do not contain those elements or features.
The broad teachings of the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the specification and the following claims. Reference herein to one aspect or various aspects means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment or particular system is included in at least one embodiment or aspect. The appearances of the phrase “in one aspect” (or variations thereof) are not necessarily referred to the same aspect or embodiment.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations should not be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.