Full-scale metamaterial window for building application

The research on acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) has progressed rapidly over the last decades. One of the applications is for noise control and airflow in duct-like systems. These are useful features for natural ventilation window design; however, the visual impact between indoor and outdoor environment, as another key factor of windows, makes the existing AMMs not directly useable for this application due to their geometrical complexity and size limitations. In this research, an AMM previously developed by the authors is exploited for full-scale window design. The AMM is packed only in the window frame so that the window transparency is not compromised. A broadband attenuation performance is obtained by the resonant unit cells constituting the AMM. The effect of the geometric variation on the window performance in terms of both acoustics and the airflow is analysed numerically through Finite Element Method (FEM) models. The performances of different AMM windows are evaluated and compared with those of conventional window designs. The simulation results show that this new AMM-based window design can overcome the limitations of the conventional windows, with great potential in real applications.