Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 450-472: Wave Mode Identification of Acoustic Emission Signals Using Phase Analysis Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring can be used to detect and locate structural damage such as growing fatigue cracks. The accuracy of damage location and consequently the inference of its significance for damage assessment is dependent on the wave propagation properties in terms of wave velocity, dispersion, attenuation and wave mode conversion. These behaviors are understood and accounted for in simplistic structures; however, actual structures are geometrically complex, with components comprising of different materials. One of the key challenges in such scenarios is the ability to positively identify wave modes and correctly associate their properties for damage location analysis. In this study, a novel method for wave mode identification is presented based on phase and instantaneous frequency analysis. Finite Element (FE) simulations and experiments on a representative aircraft wing structure were conducted to evaluate the performance of the technique. The results show how a phase analysis obtained from a Hilbert Transform of the wave signal in combination with variations of the instantaneous frequency of the wave signal, can be used to determine the arrival and therefore identification of the different wave modes on a complex structure. The methodology outlined in this paper was proven on an Automatic Sensor Test wave signal, Pencil Lead Breaks and Hanning windows and it was shown that the percentage difference is between 3% and 15% for the A0 and S0 wave speed respectively.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 439-449: Architectural Features That Make Music Bloom in Concert Halls The purpose of this paper is to spark discussions on the recent trends of designing vineyard and surround-type concert halls. We understand that these halls could be architecturally unique and many conductors like them, however, as outlined in this paper, they do not always serve the best for music acoustically. The motivation for visual proximity is easily understandable, but it should not overrule the acoustical conditions. We hope that this paper helps designers of new concert venues. We also hope to see more research and discussion on the acoustical qualities of these modern concert halls.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 423-438: Archaeoacoustic Examination of Lazarica Church The acoustic analysis provides additional information on building tradition and related indoor practice that includes sound, thus deepening our understanding of architectural heritage. In this paper, the sound field of the Orthodox medieval church Lazarica (Kruševac city, Serbia) is examined. Lazarica is a representative of Morava architectural style, developed in the final period of the Serbian medieval state, when also the chanting art thrived, proving the importance of the aural environment in Serbian churches. The church plan is a combination of a traditional inscribed cross and a triconch. After the in situ measurement of acoustic impulse response using EASERA software, we built a computer model in the acoustic simulation software EASE and calibrated it accordingly. Following the parameters (reverberation time (T30), early decay time (EDT) and speech transmission index (STI)), we examined the acoustic effect of the space occupancy, central dome and the iconostasis. In all the cases, no significant deviation between T30 and EDT parameter was observed, which indicates uniform sound energy decay. Closing the dome with a flat ceiling did not show any significant impact on T30, but it lowered speech intelligibility. The height of iconostasis showed no significant influence on the acoustics of Lazarica church.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 410-422: An Enhanced Temporal Feature Integration Method for Environmental Sound Recognition Temporal feature integration refers to a set of strategies attempting to capture the information conveyed in the temporal evolution of the signal. It has been extensively applied in the context of semantic audio showing performance improvements against the standard frame-based audio classification methods. This paper investigates the potential of an enhanced temporal feature integration method to classify environmental sounds. The proposed method utilizes newly introduced integration functions that capture the texture window shape in combination with standard functions like mean and standard deviation in a classification scheme of 10 environmental sound classes. The results obtained from three classification algorithms exhibit an increase in recognition accuracy against a standard temporal integration with simple statistics, which reveals the discriminative ability of the new metrics.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 393-409: Self Noise Reduction and Aerodynamics of Airfoils with Porous Trailing Edges The application of open-porous materials is a possible method to effectively reduce the aerodynamic noise of an airfoil. However, the porous consistency may have a negative effect on the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil, since very often the lift is decreased while the drag increases. In a recent investigation, the generation of trailing edge noise of a set of airfoil models made from different porous materials was examined experimentally. The materials were characterized mainly by their airflow resistivity. Besides the material, the chordwise extent of the porous material was varied, which was done by covering the front part of the porous airfoil with a thin, impermeable adhesive foil. Acoustic measurements were performed in an open jet wind tunnel using microphone array technology, while the aerodynamic performance was measured simultaneously using a six-component balance. In general, both the airflow resistivity and the extent of the porous material have an influence on the trailing edge noise. However, if a suitable material is chosen, the results show that a noticeable reduction of trailing edge noise is possible even with only a small chordwise extent of the porous material.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 382-392: Study on the Output Performance of a Nonlinear Hybrid Piezoelectric-Electromagnetic Harvester under Harmonic Excitation The nonlinear energy harvester has become a hot topic due to its broad bandwidth and lower resonant frequency. Based on the preliminary test and analyses in our previous work, further analyses and tests on the influence of parameters, including the nonlinear magnetic force of the hybrid energy harvesting structure on its output performance under harmonic excitation, are performed in this paper, which will provide powerful support for structural optimization. For designing a nonlinear piezoelectric-electromagnetic hybrid energy harvester, the state equation of electromechanical coupling, the harmonic response and average output power, voltage, and current of a nonlinear hybrid energy harvester under harmonic excitation are derived by the harmonic balance method. The effects of the excitation acceleration and the external load on the output performance of the nonlinear hybrid energy harvester are verified through experimental tests. The results showed that the output power of the nonlinear hybrid energy harvester increases with the increase in the acceleration of harmonic excitation, and the increase is affected by external load. When the piezoelectric-electromagnetic hybrid harvester operates at the optimal load and the resonant frequency, the average output power reaches its maximum value and the increase of the load of the piezoelectric unit makes the resonant frequency of the energy harvesting system increase. Compared with linear harvesting structures, the nonlinear hybrid harvester has better flexibility of environmental adaptability and is more suitable for harvesting energy in low-frequency environments.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 369-381: The 3D Spatial Autocorrelation of the Branching Fractal Vasculature The fractal branching vasculature within soft tissues and the mathematical properties of the branching system influence a wide range of important phenomena from blood velocity to ultrasound backscatter. Among the mathematical descriptors of branching networks, the spatial autocorrelation function plays an important role in statistical measures of the tissue and of wave propagation through the tissue. However, there are open questions about analytic models of the 3D autocorrelation function for the branching vasculature and few experimental validations for soft vascularized tissue. To address this, high resolution computed tomography scans of a highly vascularized placenta perfused with radiopaque contrast through the umbilical artery were examined. The spatial autocorrelation function was found to be consistent with a power law, which then, in theory, predicts the specific power law behavior of other related functions, including the backscatter of ultrasound.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 354-368: Plate-Type Acoustic Metamaterials: Experimental Evaluation of a Modular Large-Scale Design for Low-Frequency Noise Control For industrial applications, the scalability of a finalised design is an important factor to consider. The scaling process of typical membrane-type acoustic metamaterials may pose manufacturing challenges such as stress uniformity of the membrane and spatial consistency of the platelet. These challenges could be addressed by plate-type acoustic metamaterials with an internal tonraum resonator. By adopting the concept of modularity in a large-scale design (or meta-panel), the acoustical performance of different specimen configurations could be scaled and modularly combined. This study justifies the viability of two meta-panel configurations for low-frequency (80–500 Hz) noise control. The meta-panels were shown to be superior to two commercially available noise barriers at 80–500 Hz. This superiority was substantiated when the sound transmission class (STC) and the outdoor-indoor transmission class (OITC) were compared. The meta-panels were also shown to provide an average noise reduction of 22.7–27.4 dB at 80–400 Hz when evaluated in different noise environments—traffic noise, aircraft flyby noise, and construction noise. Consequently, the meta-panel may be further developed and optimised to obtain a design that is lightweight and yet has good acoustical performance at below 500 Hz, which is the frequency content of most problematic noises.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 337-353: The Contribution of the Stage Design to the Acoustics of Ancient Greek Theatres The famous acoustics of ancient Greek theatres rely on a successful combination of appropriate location and architectural design. The theatres of the ancient world effectively combine two contradictory requirements: large audience capacity and excellent aural and visual comfort. Despite serious alterations resulting from either Roman modifications or accumulated damage, most of these theatres are still theatrically and acoustically functional. Acoustic research has proven that ancient theatres are applications of a successful combination of the basic parameters governing the acoustic design of open-air venues: elimination of external noise, harmonious arrangement of the audience around the performing space, geometric functions among the various parts of the theatre, reinforcement of the direct sound through positive sound reflections, and suppression of the delayed sound reflections or reverberation. Specifically, regarding the acoustic contribution of the stage building, it is important to clarify the consecutive modifications of the skene in the various types of theatres, given the fact that stage buildings were almost destroyed in most ancient Greek theatres. This paper attempts to demonstrate the positive role of the scenery in contemporary performances of ancient drama to improve the acoustic comfort using data from a sample of twenty (20) ancient theatres in Greece.

Acoustics, Vol. 1, Pages 295-336: A High-Frequency Model of a Circular Beam with a T-Shaped Cross Section This paper derives an analytical model of a circular beam with a T-shaped cross section for use in the high-frequency range, defined here as approximately 1 to 50 kHz. The T-shaped cross section is composed of an outer web and an inner flange. The web in-plane motion is modeled with two-dimensional elasticity equations of motion, and the left portion and right portion of the flange are modeled separately with Timoshenko shell equations. The differential equations are solved with unknown wave propagation coefficients multiplied by Bessel and exponential spatial domain functions. These are inserted into constraint and equilibrium equations at the intersection of the web and flange and into boundary conditions at the edges of the system. Two separate cases are formulated: structural axisymmetric motion and structural non-axisymmetric motion and these results are added together for the total solution. The axisymmetric case produces 14 linear algebraic equations and the non-axisymmetric case produces 24 linear algebraic equations. These are solved to yield the wave propagation coefficients, and this gives a corresponding solution to the displacement field in the radial and tangential directions. The dynamics of the longitudinal direction are discussed but are not solved in this paper. An example problem is formulated and compared to solutions from fully elastic finite element modeling. It is shown that the accurate frequency range of this new model compares very favorably to finite element analysis up to 47 kHz. This new analytical model is about four magnitudes faster in computation time than the corresponding finite element models.