Testing and optimization of 3D-printed volumetric diffusor arrays for attenuation of blast noise

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2020-10, Vol.148 (4), p.2638-2638
• Main Authors: Ochi, Gordon M., Dunn, Kyle, Muhlestein, Michael B., Wood, Tanner, Kreiger, Megan, Swearingen, Michelle E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.5147333

3D-printed volumetric diffusing array structures, composed of many arbitrarily shaped pillars in an optimized pattern, have previously been shown to be very effective for blast noise attenuation in a scale model experiment (Ochi et al., 2019). This work expands upon previous progress by investigating innovative optimization schemes for the array designs, and further testing these optimized arrays in scale model experiments with a spark gap generator operating as a surrogate blast noise source. Properties of the propagated signal, including directivity, duration, and spectral characteristics, are discussed, as well as how these properties depend on the choice of volumetric diffusor. Finally, the propagated waveform, spectra, and effective attenuation predicted using 2D-FDTD simulations are compared with the results of the experiment as a method of testing the validity of the simulations.