Thin Acoustic-Composite Structures With Metamaterial Inclusions for Enhanced Low-Frequency Sound Absorption

Michał A. Niedzielczyk, Tomasz G. Zieliński · ASME International · 2026

Thin porous acoustic composites with tunable labyrinthine metamaterial inclusions achieve enhanced low-frequency absorption via multiresonant behavior confirmed by acoustic tests.

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Plain English summary

The work studies thin sound-absorbing panels made from a conventional porous material combined with subwavelength metamaterial inclusions. The metamaterial inclusions are labyrinthine and are designed to create tuned multiresonant behavior, targeting high absorption at lower frequencies where porous materials alone may perform poorly. The authors describe a modeling and design procedure that allows the porous layer thickness to differ from the inclusion thickness, including a two-layer configuration with an air gap. They also report acoustic tests on two manufactured samples that confirm the predicted multiresonant behavior and overall absorption performance.

Why this matters

Designing thin acoustic composites that combine a porous matrix with labyrinthine metamaterial inclusions to achieve tuned multiresonant low-frequency absorption, including flexible thickness/air-gap configurations and a modeling/design procedure validated by tests. The abstract reports modeling and acoustic tests on manufactured samples, but does not provide evidence of field deployment, productization, cost, or manufacturing scalability.

Key findings

  • Labyrinthine subwavelength metamaterial inclusions improve low-frequency sound absorption by introducing tuned multiresonant behavior.
  • Resonance frequencies can be tuned to match known noise conditions or to compensate for weak performance of the porous matrix.
  • Composite design can use different thicknesses for the porous material and inclusions, enabling a porous layer with an air gap underneath.
  • An air gap can reduce added panel thickness by integrating lower parts of the inclusions into the supporting wall.
  • Acoustic tests on manufactured samples confirm the predicted multiresonant behavior and overall sound absorption.

Limitations

The abstract does not specify quantitative performance metrics, bandwidth, robustness to manufacturing tolerances, long-term stability, or scalability beyond the two example composites and the stated test setup constraints.

Publication

Publisher
ASME International
Publication date
February 12, 2026
Research type
Paper
License
https://www.asme.org/publications-submissions/publishing-information/legal-policies

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Method note: Summaries and ratings on this page are generated by AI from the abstract only. Read the original paper for full context. · Model: gpt-5.4-nano-2026-03-17