Predictions and measurements of sound transmission through a periodic array of elastic shells in air

Analytical and numerical approaches have been made to the problems of (a) propagation through a doubly periodic array of elastic shells in air, (b) scattering by a single elastic shell in air, and (c) scattering by a finite periodic array of elastic shells in air. Using the Rayleigh identity and the Kirchhoff–Love approximations, a relationship is found between the elastic material parameters and the size of the bandgap below the first Bragg frequency, which results from the axisymmetric resonance of the shells in an array. Predictions and laboratory data confirm that use of a suitably “soft” non-vulcanized rubber results in substantial insertion loss peaks related to the resonances of the shells. Inclusion of viscoelasticity is found to improve the correspondence between predictions and data. In addition the possible influences of inhomogeneity due to the manufacturing of the elastic shells (i.e., the effects of gluing sheet edges together) and of departures from circular cylindrical cross-sections are considered by means of numerical methods.