Numerical realization of a semi-active virtual acoustic black hole effect

Noise mitigation by means of the acoustic black hole (ABH) effect is a well-known engineering solution. However, the conventional method of applying ABH effect which requires modification of the structure geometry has various limitations which encourage the research of virtual ABH concept. In this study, the effect of ABH was applied through introducing virtual stiffness by a shunt circuit. According to the force-voltage electric analogy, stiffness has an inverse relationship with capacitance. So that the ABH effect can be virtually realized by following a power law profile using an array of independent capacitive shunts. The concept is studied through finite element simulation developing a macro code in ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL). To evaluate the influence of capacitance profile on the acoustic radiated power, parametric studies are conducted. Based on the results of the parametric studies, the capacitance profile is tuned for minimum radiated power. It is revealed that the virtual acoustic black hole (ABH) effect can offer 10.29%, 6.37%, and 7.47% reduction in the radiated power from the first to the last targeted mode, respectively. The virtual ABH effect introduced in this study can be used for semi-active structural noise isolation without any weight or manufacturing penalty.