An analytical method for broadband acoustic analysis of 2D cavities containing or bounded by porous materials

Real-life vibro-acoustic systems often involve porous treatments, resulting in complex-valued and frequency-dependent models that are challenging to solve. Traditional prediction techniques like the finite element (FE) method requires huge computational cost, especially in the mid to high frequency ranges. This paper develops a novel spectral dynamic stiffness (SDS) formulation, using very few number of degrees of freedom but describing the broadband acoustic behaviour of acoustic cavities with porous materials highly accurately. The method employs frequency-dependent shape function that satisfies exactly the (damped) Helmholtz equation to describe the (equivalent) acoustic pressure field, and also features an innovative approach to use the fast-convergent Modified Fourier series to describe any arbitrary acoustic BCs. Finally, the SDS matrices for cavities containing or bounded by porous materials are formulated in an analytical manner. It is demonstrated that the method exhibits a much higher computational efficiency over the FE package COMSOL, at least 6 times faster than the COMSOL with a similar level of accuracy, and benchmark solutions are provided. This promising method can provide a powerful tool for systems with porous materials that have frequency-dependent characteristics, paving the way for efficient and accurate acoustic analysis in complex engineering applications.