Modèle acoustique d'une couche absorbante composée de fibres Shoddy

Abstract

Shoddy fibres or"Shoddies" are a mixture of post-consumer and post-industrial fibres diverted from textile waste streams and recycled into their raw fibre form. They have found widespread use as a raw material for manufacturing sound absorbers that include, but are not limited to: automotive, architectural and home appliance applications. The purpose of this project is to develop a simple acoustic model to describe the acoustic behaviour of sound absorbers composed primarily of Shoddy fibres. The model requires knowledge of the material's bulk density only. To date, these materials have not been the focus of much published research and acoustical designers must rely on models that were developed for other materials or are overly complex. For modelling purposes, an equivalent fluid approach is chosen to balance complexity and accuracy. In deriving the proposed model, several popular equivalent fluid models are selected and the required input parameters for each model identified. The models are: the model of Delaney and Bazley, two models by Miki, the model of Johnson in conjunction with the model of Champoux and Allard and the model of Johnson in conjunction with the model of Lafarge. Characterization testing is carried out on sets of Shoddy absorbers produced using three different manufacturing methods. The measured properties are open porosity, tortuosity, airflow resistivity, the viscous and thermal characteristic lengths and the static thermal permeability. Empirical relationships between model parameters and bulk density are then derived and used to populate the selected models. This yields several"simplified" models with bulk density as the only parameter. The most accurate model is then selected by comparing each model's prediction to the results of normal incidence sound absorption tests. The model of Johnson-Lafarge populated with the empirical relations is the most accurate model over the range of frequencies considered (approx. 300 Hz - 4000 Hz) Characterization testing yields specific values for intrinsic material parameters that allow for comparison to other porous materials. Individual parameter relations allow users to substitute measured or theoretical values as needed. A new empirical acoustical model is proposed to describe the behaviour of Shoddy-based fibre absorbers. The model requires knowledge of the bulk density only. This parameter is easily measured making application of the model elementary.