Noise reduction in parallel barriers via vibroacoustic coupling

Erection of parallel barriers to control environmental noise such as traffic noise and construction noise is commonly seen in community. Owing to the formation of multiple reflection waves between the parallel barriers, their performance may be worse than a single barrier. To improve the performance of parallel barriers, a small piece of flush-mounted panels backed by a slender cavity in an otherwise rigid wall of barriers is proposed. With the excitation of the incident wave from a sound source inside parallel barriers, the flexible panel vibrates and sound is radiated out to undergo acoustics interference with sound field between the parallel barriers so that the sound intensity in this space and diffraction wave at the barrier top edge is reduced over a broadband in the low-frequency regime. The use of the panel provides flexibility in controlling range of stopband with high insertion loss by varying mass and bending stiffness. A semi-analytical model for dealing with vibroacoustic coupling between the open cavity and vibrating panel in a two-dimensional configuration is established in order to understand the sound suppression mechanism within the shadow zone. With the optimal structural properties of the panel, the extra averaged insertion loss of about 5 dB in the frequencies ranging from 50 to 1000 Hz is reached for the parallel barriers.