Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Sound insulation performance of membrane-type metamaterials combined

with pyramidal truss core sandwich structure
Yu-Zhou Wang, Li Ma ⇑
Center for Composite Materials, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Recently, sandwich structures have been widely used in different field because of their good mechanical prop-
Membrane‐type metamaterials erties but these structures are slightly insufficient in acoustic performance. In this paper, by combining the
Sound transmission loss pyramidal truss core sandwich structure with membrane‐type metamaterials, a new structure is proposed with
Pyramidal truss core both good mechanical properties and excellent acoustic performance at low frequency. An analytical model of
the membrane‐type metamaterials combined with the pyramidal truss core sandwich structure is developed to
investigate the sound transmission loss (STL) performance of the structure. Finite element method (FEM) is also
used to investigate the STL performance at low frequency. The effects of the additional block on the membrane,
the tension of the membrane, the incident wave angle and the geometrical size of the structure to the STL of the
structure are discussed.

1. Introduction
Sandwich structures consisting of two thin face sheets and a light-
weight core are widely used in building, transport, aerospace and
other areas because of their light weight, specific strength and high
stiffness [1–8]. Due to the widely use of the structure, several research-
ers pay attention to the sandwich structures and many investigations
are published. But most of the studies only focus on the mechanical
properties of the sandwich structure. With the extensive study of sand-
wich structures, the acoustic performance of sandwich structures has
received more and more attention. Many theories and methods are
used to the acoustic study of the sandwich panel. The space harmonic
method is one of the theories used to study the sound insulation prop-
erties of the sandwich structure. The space harmonic method was first
purposed by Mead and Pujara [9], and investigated the periodically
stiffened beam structure. Lee and Kim [10,11] studied the sound trans-
mission characteristics of the stiffened plates and shells by using space‐
harmonic method. Only the one‐dimension space‐harmonic method is
used in the research. On the basis of Lee and Kim's research, the sound
transmission through lightweight double‐leaf partitions is investigated
by Wang et al. [12] and a theoretical model has been published in that
paper. In Wang’s model, they replaced the studs by elastic springs uni-
formly distributed between the face sheets. Further, Xin and Lu
[13,14] extended the space‐harmonic method for one‐dimension sys-
tem to two‐dimension system and indicated that the theoretical model
of the wave propagation through the orthogonally rib‐stiffened
double‐panel structure. They also studied the effect of the boundary
conditions to STL of the orthogonally rib‐stiffened double‐panel struc-
ture. The vibro‐acoustic response of a ribbed plate is also studied by Fu
et al. [15]. The influence of modal coupling terms is discussed in the
research. Based on these researches, Wang and Ma [16] reported the
sound transmission loss through sandwich structure with pyramidal
truss cores by using two‐dimension system space‐harmonic method.
Recently Fu et al. [17] developed the sound transmission loss behavior
of sandwich panel with different truss cores in external mean flow by
equivalent method.
Membrane‐type metamaterials are first introduced by Yang et al.
[18] which consists of a thin membrane with grid around it to obtain
negative dynamic mass and improve sound insulation performance,
some membrane‐type acoustic metamaterials (MAMs) also have addi-
tional mass attached on the membrane. Because of the excellent sound
insulation performance, the MAMs receive more and more attention in
recent years [19–23]. Naify et al. [24,25] examined the sound trans-
mission loss of MAMs with one single cell and a small‐scale(four‐
celled) array experimentally. The study makes the design of large‐
scale structure with desired STL to be possible. Zhang et al. [26] inves-
tigated the sound transmission characteristics of MAMs by building a
theoretical model to analysis this structure. In Zhang’s research the
eigenmode of the membrane‐type unit cell is studied to find a physical
explanation of STL profile. Chen et al. [27,28] developed Zhang’s
model and investigated MAMs by two different model: the plate‐
model and membrane‐model. In Chen’s model, the sound absorption

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mali@hit.edu.cn (L. Ma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113257
Received 13 July 2020; Revised 28 October 2020; Accepted 30 October 2020
Available online xxxx
0263-8223/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Wang Y-Z, Ma L. Sound insulation performance of membrane-type metamaterials combined with pyramidal truss core sandwich
structure. Compos Struct (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113257
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma
of MAMs is obtained. Based on these works, a theoretical model to
optimization the sound insulation ability by changing the height of
the panel in the center of the unit cell is developed by Kim et al.
[29]. Ma et al. [30] and Wang et al. [31] investigated the synergetic
coupling of the membrane‐type and plate‐type metamaterials. By con-
sidering the synergetic coupling of the MAMs, a broadband with high
STL can be obtained in low frequency. A theoretical model to investi-
gate the sound transmission loss through lattice‐supported micro‐
membranes is published by Qiu et al. [32]. In that study, the influence
of not only the membrane but also the grid around the membrane is
considered, which most of the researches are ignored. Langfeldt
et al. [33–35] investigates the MAMs and makes a contribution on
building the theoretical model of MAMs with additional block. The
theoretical model built by Langfeldt also considered the influence of
the grid around the membrane.
Most of the previous studies on MAMs are considered the single
MAMs structure only. By using MAMs, a good STL can be obtained in
specific frequencies, but at other frequencies the STL usually lower than
the value given by mass‐law [35]. MAMs almost have no load bearing
capacity which is also a disadvantage of the MAMs. The sandwich struc-
ture has high strength and stiffness [1]. But most of the sandwich struc-
ture has weak sound insulation ability compare to solid plates of equal
quality and thickness in low frequencies. Among the sandwich struc-
tures, the pyramidal truss core sandwich structure is selected due to
its better comprehensive performance of mechanics and acoustics. By
combining the two structure, we can get a new structure with both
good mechanical properties and excellent acoustic performance at
low frequency. On one hand, the STL of MAMs out of the resonance
bandwidth can be improved, thus a wider bandwidth with good sound
insulation can be obtained. On the other hand, the new structure inher-
its the mechanical properties of the lattice structure and can be used
more widely. In this paper, an analytical model of the membrane‐
type metamaterials combined with the pyramidal truss core sandwich
structure is developed to investigate the sound transmission loss of
the structure. In the model, trusses are replaced by the translational
Fig. 1. MAMs combined with pyramidal truss core sandwich structure.
2
Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257
and rotational springs and the grid of the membrane‐type metamateri-
als are assumed as Euler beams. The vibro‐acoustic coupling is consid-
ered by using the velocity continuity condition at the interfaces of the
fluid and structure. The governing equation is developed by using the
space harmonic expansions and the principle of virtual work. The
effects of the additional block on the membrane, the tension of the
membrane, the incident wave angle and the geometrical size of the
structure to the STL of the structure are discussed.
2. Theoretical formulations
2.1. Structure design
The pyramidal truss core sandwich structure has outstanding
mechanical properties but is weak in sound insulation. MAMs are usu-
ally used in improving sound transmission loss. By adding membrane
into the pyramidal truss core sandwich structure, a new structure with
both good mechanical properties and broadband sound insulation abil-
ity can be obtained. By removing the middle part of the upper panel
and adding the membrane at the corresponding position, the new
structure can be obtained. The remaining part of the upper panel is
treated as the grid coupled to the membrane. The membrane is placed
in the middle of the grid instead of the upper surface to ensure that the
membrane can withstand tension without being separated from the
grid. The trusses of the core are connected at the four corners of the
grid which don’t have direct contact with the membrane. The addi-
tional block can be regarded as fixed on the membrane which means
that the displacement is the same at the contact part. The model of
the membrane‐type metamaterials combined with the pyramidal truss
core sandwich structure is shown in Fig. 1.
2.2. Governing equations
In order to establish the analysis model, the representative cell
selected is shown in Fig. 2. A Cartesian coordinate system, which is
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

In the modeling process, the additional block is regard as rigid and

the point matching approach is used to transform the additional block
into I point forces F bM (b = 1,2…I) in each unit cell. Using the method
introduced by Mace [36] and Wang [16], the governing equation can
be expressed as:
 
2mt @ 2 w1
D1 r4 w1 þ m1 þ 2 þ Tr2 w1 ¼ jωρ0 ðΦ1  Φ2 Þ
L @t 2
 
@2 @2 þ1 þ1
þ K rx 2 þ K ry 2  K z 2w1 ∑ ∑ δðx þ mLÞδðy þ nLÞ
@x @y m¼1 n¼1
þ1 þ1

þδðx þ mLÞδðy  L þ nLÞ  4w2 ∑ ∑ δðx  L=2 þ mLÞδðy  L=2 þ nLÞ
m¼1 n¼1
þ1 þ1 þ1 I
 ∑ F x δðy þ nLÞ  ∑ F y δðx þ mLÞ þ ∑ ∑ F ab
M ð5Þ
n¼1 m¼1 a¼1 b¼1

 
2mt @ 2 w2
D2 r4 w2 þ m2 þ 2 ¼ jωρ0 ðΦ2  Φ3 Þ
L @t 2
 
@ 2
@ 2 þ1 þ1
þ K rx 2 þ K ry 2  K z  ð4w2 ∑ ∑ δðx  L=2 þ mLÞδðy  L=2 þ nLÞ
Fig. 2. Geometry parameters of the structure. @x @y m¼1 n¼1
þ1 þ1
2w1 ∑ ∑ δðx þ mLÞδðy þ nLÞ þ δðx þ mLÞδðy  L þ nLÞ ð6Þ
the global coordinate system, is defined at one corner of the structure, m¼1 n¼1

with x‐ and y‐axis parallel to the side of the structure and z‐axis is per-
where D1 , w1 , m1 and T are the flexural stiffness, the transversal dis-
pendicular to the plane of the x‐axis and y‐axis and points to the inte-
placement, the surface mass density and the tension per length of the
rior of the structure. Another coordinate system, which is the local
membrane respectively, D2 , w2 and m2 are the flexural stiffness, the
coordinate system, is set at the center of gravity of additional block
transversal displacement and the surface mass density of the panel
to describe the movement of additional block. The coordinate axes
respectively,Φ1 , Φ2 and Φ3 are the velocity potentials of sound at inci-
of the local coordinate system and the global coordinate system are
dent field, internal cavity and transmitted flied respectively, F x and F y
parallel and point in the same direction. When calculating the vibra-
are the force of the beam to the membrane parallel to the x‐axis and y‐
tion of the additional black, the point matching scheme is applied to þ1 I
axis respectively, the last term of Equation (5), ∑a¼1 ∑b¼1 F ab M , indi-
make the calculation result more accurate. Such method also makes pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
the effective mass density of the structure more in line with the actual cates the effect of additional block on the membrane, j ¼ 1 ,ω is
situation. When a sound wave is incident to the proposed structure, the the angular frequency, L is the side length of the unit cell, ρ0 is the den-
sound wave will first act on the membrane‐type metamaterial on the sity of air. mt is the mass of a single truss, δ is the Dirac function. The
side of the incident sound field. Then the sound wave energy is divided flexural stiffness is represented as:
into two parts. One part is transmitted to the lower panel which is on Ei h3i
the side of the transmitted sound field through the trusses in the form Di ¼ i ¼ 1; 2 ð7Þ
12ð1  ν2i Þ
of vibration. The other part is transmitted to the lower panel in the air
space inside the structural core in the form of sound waves. The energy where E i , hi and νi are the Young’s modulus, thickness and Poisson’s
loss during sound wave transmission can be obtained by solving the ratio of the membrane and panel respectively.
governing equation of the composite structure. In the analysis model, the grid on the membrane is regarded as
A sound wave is incident from the negative side of the z‐axis of the Euler beam, thus equation of interaction between grid and membrane
membrane. By using harmonic expansion approach, incident sound is obtained.
wave can be expressed as: @ 4 w3x @ 4 w3y
m3 ω2 w3x þ E3 I 3 ¼ F x ; m3 ω2 w3y þ E 3 I 3 ¼ Fy ð8Þ
Pin ¼ Iejðkx xþky yþkz zωt Þ ð1Þ @x 4 @x4
where m3 is the mass per length of the beam, I 3 is the moment of inertia
where I is the amplitude of the incident wave, kx , ky , kz are the component of the beams, w3x and w3y , the torsional deformation of the beams, are
of the wave vector along the coordinate axis and can be expressed as, neglected. Because the beams are rigidly coupled to the membrane sur-
ω face, the relationship of transversal displacement between the beams
k0 ¼ ; kx ¼ k0 sinθcosφ; ky ¼ k0 sinθsinφ; kz ¼ k0 cosθ ð2Þ
c0 and membrane can be obtained.
where k0 is the wave number of the fluid, θ is the incident angle, and φ w3x ðxÞ ¼ w1 ðx; nLÞ; w3y ðy Þ ¼ w1 ðmL; y Þ ð9Þ
is the azimuth angle of the incident wave.
Substituting Eq. (8) into Eq. (9), the relationship between the force
The compressive stiffness of the truss and the rotational stiffness of
of the grid on the membrane and the transversal displacement of the
the truss can be expressed as [16]:
membrane can be obtained.
E t ht bt l2t sin2 α þ 12E t I t cos2 α In the modeling process, the point matching approach is used to
KZ ¼ ð3Þ
3 transform the additional mass into I point forces F bM in each unit cell.
lt
I I I
b b

 E t I t sin2 αcos2 α Mω2 wo ¼ ∑ F bM ; J x ω2 αx ¼ ∑ y b F M ; J y ω2 αy ¼  ∑ xb F M ð10Þ
K rx ¼ K ry ¼ 1 þ 3sin4 α þ E t bt ht lt ð4Þ b¼1 b¼1 b¼1
lt 4
Eq. (10) is the governing equation of the additional block in a unit
where K Z is the compressive stiffness of the truss on z‐axis, K rx and K ry cell, where ðxb ; y b Þ is the position of b‐th point force in local coordinate
are the rotational stiffness of the truss on x‐ and y‐axis, respectively. E t system, M is the mass of additional block, J x and J y are the principle
is the Young’s modulus of the truss, I t is the moment of inertia of the moment of inertia of additional block around x‐axis and y‐axis of the
truss. bt , ht , lt and α are the section width of truss, section height of local coordinate system, wo , αx and αy are the transversal displacement
the truss, length of the truss and angle between the truss and the panel of the gravity center, the rotations around x‐axis and y‐axis respectively.
respectively.

3
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

Z Z
Because the additional block is fixed on the membrane, the rela- L L
@ 2 w1
δΠp1 ¼ ðD1 r4 w1 þ Tr2 w1 þ m1  jωρ0 ðΦ1  Φ2 ÞÞδw1 dxdy; z ¼ 0
tionship of the motion of membrane and block can be expressed as 0 0 @t 2
[33]: ð22Þ

wM ðx; y Þ ¼ wo þ αx y αy x ¼ w1 ðx; y Þ ð11Þ Z Z

L L
@ 2 w2
δΠp2 ¼ ðD2 r4 w2 þ m2  jωρ0 ðΦ2  Φ3 ÞÞδw2 dxdy; z ¼ H
Eq. (11) is only valid within the interface of the block and the mem- 0 0 @t 2
brane. Using Eqs. (10) and (11), the relationship between F bM and w1 ð23Þ
can be obtained.
The virtual work done by the transversal springs is expressed as:
Using the space harmonic expansion, the velocity potentials can be 88 9
Z Z >
<>< >
=
expressed as: L L 
δΠt1 ¼ K z ½ðw1 δðxÞδðy Þ  w2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þδw1  x ¼ 0
þ1 þ1 0 >
:>: >
;
Φ1 ¼ Iejðkx xþky yþkz zωt Þ þ ∑ ∑ Amn ejðkxm xþkyn ykz zωt Þ
mn 0
ð12Þ 8 9
y¼0
m¼1 n¼1
>
< >
=

þ1 þ1 þ1 þ ½ðw1 δðx  LÞδðy Þ  w2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þδw1  x ¼ L
> >
∑ Bmn ejðkxm xþkyn yþkz zωt Þ : ;
mn
Φ2 ¼ ∑ þ ∑ y¼0
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 8 9
þ1 >
< >
=

 ∑ Cmn ejðkxm xþkyn ykz zωt Þ
mn
ð13Þ 
þ ½ðw1 δðxÞδðy  LÞ  w2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þδw1 x ¼ 0
n¼1 >
: >
;
y¼L
8 99
þ1 þ1 >
< >
=> =
∑ Dmn ejðkxm xþkyn yþkz zωt Þ
mn
Φ3 ¼ ∑ ð14Þ 
m¼1 n¼1 þ ½ðw1 δðx  LÞδðy  LÞ  w2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þδw1  x ¼ L dxdy
>
: >;
; >
where kxm ¼ kx þ 2πm=L, kyn ¼ ky þ 2πn=L are the wave number of har- y¼L
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð24Þ
monic wave in the structure and kmn
z ¼ k20  k2xm  k2yn , is the corre-
88 9
sponding wave number along x‐axis. Coefficients Amn , Bmn , Cmn and Z L Z L>
>
<>
>
<
>
>
=

Dmn are the amplitude of the (n, m) component of reflected and trans- δΠt2 ¼ K z ½ðw2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  w1 δðxÞδðy Þδw2  x ¼ L=2
>
0 >>> >
>
mitted waves of membrane and panel respectively.
0
:: ;
y ¼ L=2
Due to the periodicity of the structure in the xy‐plane, the transver- 8 9
>
> >
>
sal displacement of the membrane and the panel can be expressed as: <  =
þ ½ðw2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  w1 δðx  LÞδðy Þδw2  x ¼ L=2
>
> >
>
þ1 þ1
jðkxm xþkyn yωtÞ : ;
wi ¼ ∑ ∑ W mn
i e ; i ¼ 1; 2 ð15Þ y ¼ L=2
m¼1 n¼1
8 9
>
> >
>
<  =
By using the velocity continuity condition at the fluid–structure þ ½ðw2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  w1 δðxÞδðy  LÞδw2  x ¼ L=2
>
> >
>
interface, the vibro‐acoustic coupling can be written as: : ;
y ¼ L=2
  8 99
@w1 @Φ1  @Φ2  >
> >>
> >
¼ ¼  ð16Þ <  ==
@t @z z¼0 @z z¼0 þ ½ðw2 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  w1 δðx  LÞδðy  LÞδw2  x ¼ L=2 dxdy
>
> >
> >
  : ;> ;
y ¼ L=2
@w2 @Φ2  @Φ3 
¼  ¼ ð17Þ ð25Þ
@t @z z¼H @z z¼H
The virtual work done by the rotational springs is expressed as:
where H is the total height of the structure, the thickness of membrane 88 9
Z >
<>< @w Z 

>
=
and panel is ignored. L
1
L
@w 2 @δw 1
δΠr1 ¼ K rx ½ð δðxÞδðy Þ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  x ¼ 0
Substituting Eqs. (12) and (15) into Eqs. (16) and (17), the expres- 0 0 >:>: @x @x @x >
;
sion of coefficients Amn , Bmn , Cmn and Dmn can be obtained. 8 9 y¼0
8 >
< @w  >
=
mn @w2 @δw1 
< I  ω Wkmn1 ; m ¼ n ¼ 0 þ ½ð
1
δðx  LÞδðy Þ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  x ¼ L
>
: @x @x @x >
;
Amn ¼ z
ð18Þ y¼09
: ω Wmnmn
1
; else 8
k z >
< @w  >
=
1 @w2 @δw1 
þ ½ð δðxÞδðy  LÞ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ x ¼ 0 >
mn
ωðe2jkz H W mn
mn >
: @x @x @x ;
1  W2 e Þ
mn jkz H
Bmn ¼ mn 2jkmn H ð19Þ 8 y¼L 99
kz ðe z  1Þ >  >
< @w @w2 @δw1  =>=
1
þ ½ð δðx  LÞδðy  LÞ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  x ¼ L >>dxdy
mn >
: @x @x @x ;;
ωðW mn
1  W2 e
mn jkz H
Þ y¼L
Cmn ¼ mn 2jkmn H ð20Þ : 88 9
kz ðe z  1Þ Z L Z L> >
<< @w  >
=
1 @w2 @δw1 
þ K ry ½ð δðxÞδðy Þ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ 
mn 0 >:>
: @y @y @y x ¼ 0 > ;
ωW mn jkz H 0
2 e 9 y¼0
Dmn ¼ ð21Þ 8
kmn >
< @w  >
=
z
1 @w2 @δw1 
þ ½ð δðx  LÞδðy Þ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  x ¼ L
Coefficients Amn , Bmn , Cmn and Dmn are expressed by W mn mn > @y
: @y @y >
;
i . Once W i
8 y¼09
are obtained, the solution of the equation is obtained.
>
<  >
=
The principle of virtual work is used in a unit cell to obtain the @w1 @w2 @δw1 
þ ½ð δðxÞδðy  LÞ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  x ¼ 0
 >
: @y @y @y >
i . δwi ¼ δW i e
W mn kl jðkxk xþkyl yÞ
is set to be the virtual displacement of mem- ;
8 y¼L 99
brane and panel. The all structure is divided into internal forces, >  >
< @w @w2 @δw1  =>=
transversal springs, rotational springs, the truss mass, the additional þ ½ð
1
δðx  LÞδðy  LÞ  δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ dxdy
>  x ¼ L >
block and the grid. The virtual work done by the internal forces of : @y @y @y ;>;
y¼L
the membrane and the panel is expressed as,
ð26Þ

4
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

Z Z L 
L
@w2 @w1 Convert Eqs. (10) and (11), Eqs. (34) and (35) into matrix form, the
δΠr2 ¼ K rx 4 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  δðxÞδðy Þ
@x @x values of the parameters m and n are [‐N, N], N will be determined in
0 0
9

 >
> section 2.4.
@w1 @w1 @w1 @δw2  =

@x
δðx  LÞδðy Þ 
@x
δðxÞδðy  LÞ 
@x
δðx  LÞδðy  LÞ
@x  x ¼ 2 >
L dxdy 2 38 9 8 9
>
; T 11 T 12 0 LM >
> W1 > > >F>
y¼2 >
< > >
= > >
< >
6T 7 0=
L
Z L Z L 6 21 T 22 0 0 7 W2
@w2 @w1 @w1 6 7 ¼ ð36Þ
þ K ry ½4 δðx  L=2Þδðy  L=2Þ  δðxÞδðy Þ  δðx  LÞδðy Þ 4 0 0 DM QM 5> > uM >> >
> 0>>
0 0 @y @y
9
@y >
: >
; >
: >
;
 >
>
LH M 0 QTM 0 FM 0
@w1 @w1 @δw2  =
 δðxÞδðy  LÞ  δðx  LÞδðy  LÞ dxdy W1, W2, uM , FM W mn W mn
@y @y @y  x ¼ L=2 > >
contain the coefficients 1 , 2 ,
y ¼ L=2
; T
wo αx αy , F jM
respectively.
ð27Þ 2 3
T 11 T 12 0 LM
6 T 21 T 22 0 0 7
The virtual work done by the truss mass and additional block is 6 7 is the coefficient matrix of Eqs. (34) and
4 0 0 DM QM 5
expressed as: H T
0 1 LM 0 QM 0
B     C (35).
   
δΠm1 ¼ mt ω2 B C
@w1 δw1 x ¼ 0 þ w1 δw1 x ¼ L þ w1 δw1 x ¼ 0 þ w1 δw1 x ¼ L A F is a ð2N þ 1Þ2 1 matrix and the elements of F is given by,
y¼0 y¼0 y¼L y¼L
2jωρ0 I; m ¼ n ¼ 0
ð28Þ F mn ¼ ð37Þ
0; else

δΠm2 ¼ 2mt ω2 w2 δw2  x ¼ L=2 once the Eq. (36) is solved, the STL of the structure can be calculated.
ð29Þ
y ¼ L=2 jI tr j
τðθ; φÞ ¼ ð38Þ
jI in j
Z Z
L L I 
δΠM1 ¼ ∑ F jM δðx  xj Þδðy  y j Þδw1  x ¼ x dxdy τ is the transmission coefficient. I tr and I in are the incident and
0 0 j¼1 j ð30Þ
transmit normal intensities.
y ¼ yj
ωρ0 kz
The virtual work done by the grid on the membrane is expressed as: I in ¼ ð39Þ
2
Z LZ L Z L

 
δΠg1 ¼ m3 ω2 þ E 3 I 3 k4xm w1 ðx; y Þδðy Þw1 y¼0 dxdy þ ωρ0 þ1 þ1
0 0 0 I tr ¼ ∑ ∑ jDmn j2 Re½kmn
z  ð40Þ
Z 2
L
  m¼1 n¼1
 m3 ω2 þ E 3 I 3 k4xm w1 ðx; y Þδðy Þw1 y¼0 dxdy ð31Þ
0 The diffuse field transmission coefficient is an average over all pos-
sible incident angles as [37],
By the principle of virtual work, the sum of all virtual work in the
R 2π R θmax
membrane and panel is zero respectively. τðθ; φÞsinθcosθdθdφ
τ ¼ 0 R 2π0 R θmax ð41Þ
δΠp1 þ δΠt1 þ δΠr1 þ δΠm1 þ δΠg1 þ δΠM1 ¼ 0 ð32Þ 0 0
sinθcosθdθdφ

δΠp2 þ δΠt2 þ δΠr2 þ δΠm2 ¼ 0 ð33Þ STL ¼ 10log10 τ ð42Þ

Finally, substituting Eqs. (8)–(11), (12)–(15), (18)–(21) into Eqs. where θmax is set to be 78°.
(32) and (33),
  2  
2.3. Finite element model
D1 k2xk þ k2yl  m1 ω2 þ Δ1 þ T k2xk þ k2yl W kl1

The finite element simulation model of the structure can be found
þ1 þ1
jΔ  þ1 þ1 mn
þ ejΔ6 þ ejΔ7 þ ejΔ7 ∑ ∑ ð1Þ W 2
mþn
þ Δ2 ∑ ∑ W mn 1  Δ3 e
6
in Fig. 3. In this model, the additional block is regarded as rigid body.
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1


þ1 þ1
jΔ  þ1 þ1 mn Fixed constraints are selected at the interface between the additional

þ ejΔ6 þ ejΔ7 þ ejΔ7 ∑ ∑ ð1Þ W 2
mþn
þ 4Δ4 ∑ ∑ kxm W mn 1  Δ4 e
6

m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1



þ1 þ1
jΔ jΔ6 jΔ7 jΔ7

 þ1 þ1 mþn mn
þ 4Δ5 ∑ ∑ kyn W 1  Δ5 e þ e mn 6
þe þe ∑ ∑ ð1Þ W 2
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1


jkmn
þ1 m3 ω2 þ E3 I 3 k4xk W kn
 Δ1 e z H
W2 þ ∑
kl 1

n¼1 L
 
m3 ω2 þ E 3 I 3 k4yl W ml
þ1 I 2jωρ0 I; k ¼ l ¼ 0
þ ∑ F jM W kl1 ejðkxk xj þkyl yj Þ ¼
1
þ ∑
m¼1 L j¼1 0; else
  2
ð34Þ
D2 k2xk þ k2yl  m2 ω2 þ Δ1 W kl2

þ1 þ1 mn
 þ1 þ1 mn
þ Δ2 ∑ ∑ ð1Þkþlmn W 2  Δ3 ejΔ6 þ ejΔ6 þ ejΔ7 þ ejΔ7 ∑ ∑ ð1Þkþl W 1
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1


þ1 þ1 mn
 þ1 þ1 mn
kxm W 2  Δ4 ejΔ6 þ ejΔ6 þ ejΔ7 þ ejΔ7 ∑
kþlmn kþl
þ 4Δ4 ∑ ∑ ð1Þ ∑ ð1Þ W 1
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1


þ1 þ1
 þ1 þ1 mn
 Δ5 ejΔ6 þ ejΔ6 þ ejΔ7 þ ejΔ7 ∑
kþlmn kþl
þ 4Δ5 ∑ ∑ ð1Þ kyn W mn
2
∑ ð1Þ W 1
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1 n¼1
mn
Δ1 ejkz H
1 ¼ 0
W kl ð35Þ

kl
2jω2 ρ0 e2jkz H
 2mLt2ω , Δ3 ¼ KL2z , Δ4 ¼ K rxL2kxk ,
2
where Δ1 ¼ kl 2jkzkl H
, Δ2 ¼ 4K
L2
z
kz ðe 1Þ
K ry kyl ðkx þky ÞL ðkx ky ÞL
Δ5 ¼ L2
,Δ6 ¼ 2
, Δ7 ¼ 2
Fig. 3. Finite element simulation model.

5
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

block and the membrane to ensure the same displacement of the two.
The Perfectly Match Layers (PML) are introduced on both sides of the
fluid region to absorb the energy. By using the PML, the reflected
sound waves from the outer boundary in the incident and transmitted
sound fields are eliminated. Periodic boundary condition is used to
simulate infinite structure. The incident sound wave is set as a plane
wave to make sure the incident angle can be fixed which can explore
more physical details. The displacement continuity condition is used at
the interface of the membrane and the grid which makes the deforma-
tion consistent. The fluid–structure coupling is considered at any
fluid–structure interface in the FE simulation. The trusses are consid-
ered as Euler‐beam which are mainly used to transmit forces and bend-
ing moments. The energy of incident sound wave and transmitted
sound wave is obtained by point integration. The convergences of all
the meshes shown in Fig. 3 are checked by mesh refinement.
2.4. Convergence analysis
well agreed. The increase in the STL of the structure mainly causes by
the negative mass density effect brought by the MAMs. As can be seen
in Fig. 5 (a) and (b), the effective mass density variety due to the vibra-
tion of MAMs increase the STL of the total structure. Due to the mass of
the lattice structure, the effective mass density of the total structure
only becomes negative in a narrow bandwidth, but the MAMs do
improve the STL of the structure by the vibration of themselves. The
geometry and material parameters are listed at Table 1 and 2.
The STL of the structure is compared with the sandwich panel with
pyramidal truss core in the same mass in normal incident sound wave.
The result in Fig. 6 shows that by combining the membrane metama-
terial with the sandwich panel with pyramidal truss core, the STL in
low frequency is improved and the dip near 1500 Hz is eliminated.
According to the work done by Wang et al. [16], the dip appeared near
1500 Hz is supposed to be the first order resonant frequency of the
sandwich structure which is caused by the resonance of the upper
panel.

In this section, the parameter N is determined to make sure the
solution is convergent. Fig. 4 shows the STL‐N curve, from which
the minimum N to let the solution converge can be obtained. As can
be seen in Fig. 4, when the coefficient N is equal to 18 the STL is con-
vergence. Fig. 5(a) shows the theoretical result and the FEM result are
3. Parameters discussion
In this section, the effect of parameters to the sound transmission
loss of the structure are discussed to further study the sound transmis-
sion characteristics of the structure. Tension of membrane and mass of
additional block are discussed to investigate the influence of these
parameters to the STL of the structure. The variety of diameter of addi-
tional block, grid width and unit cell size are shown in this section to
explore the effect of these factors. By changing the geometric size of
the structure, the sound insulation performance can be optimized.

Table 1
The geometry parameters of the structure.

Parameters Values

Thickness of membrane h1 7.6 × 10−5 m

Thickness of panel h2 0.002 m
Width of grid b3 0.004 m
thickness of grid h3 0.002 m
Width of truss bt 0.002 m
Height of truss ht 0.002 m
Thickness of mass h4 3.24 × 10−3 m
Diameter of mass d 0.01 m
Tension of membrane T 400 N/m
Height of total structure H 0.03 m
Unit cell size L 4.64 × 10−2 m
Incident angle θ 20 deg
Azimuth angle φ 45 deg
Fig. 4. Convergence of the theoretical model.

(a) (b)
Fig. 5. (a) Comparison of theoretical result and FEM result and (b) Effective mass density of the total structure.

6
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

Table 2
The material parameters of the structure.

Parameters Values

Density of air ρ0 1.21 kg/m3

Speed of sound in air c0 343 m/s
Density of membrane ρ1 1200 kg/m3
Young’s modulus of membrane E1 3.6 GPa
Poisson’s ratio of membrane υ1 0.36
Density of panel ρ2 1800 kg/m3
Young’s modulus of panel E2 18.6 GPa
Poisson’s ratio of panel υ2 0.15
Density of grid ρ3 1800 kg/m3
Young’s modulus of grid E 3 18.6 GPa
Poisson’s ratio of grid υ3 0.15
Density of truss ρt 1800 kg/m3
Young’s modulus of truss E t 18.6 GPa
Poisson’s ratio of truss υt 0.15
Density of mass ρ4 7860 kg/m3
Young’s modulus of mass E4 210 GPa
Poisson’s ratio of mass υ4 0.33

Fig. 7. STL with different membrane tension.

Fig. 6. Comparison of the new structure with pyramidal core sandwich panel.

And the influence of external sound field, the incident wave angle is Fig. 8. STL of the structure with different mass additional block.
also studied.

3.1. Tension of membrane
Fig. 7 shows the effect of the membrane tension to the sound trans-
mission loss of the structure. In this paper the membrane is subject to
uniform tension T per unit length. The first dip and peak of the STL
curve caused by additional block are appeared at lower frequency as
the membrane tension decrease. As the membrane tension decrease,
the stiffness of the membrane decreases which makes the additional
block vibrate more easily. WhenT = 200N=m, there is a peak
appeared near 1980 Hz, which presumably due to the decrease in stiff-
ness that causes the frequency of peak to decrease. The stiffness
decreases also result in the peak of the STL curve appeared at lower
frequency.
3.2. Additional block
3.2.1. Mass of additional block
The sound transmission loss curves of structure with different mass
are plot in Fig. 8. The mass of block only affects the position and value
of the first peak, there is almost no influence on the STL curve at other
frequency. As shown in Fig. 8, the frequency and value of the first peak
is increased as the mass of block decrease. This performance is result
by the increasing vibration of the membrane when the mass of block
decreased. As the mass of additional block decreases, the displacement
of the membrane increased during the vibration which makes the
sound insulation performance of the structure decreased at specific
frequency.
3.2.2. Diameter of additional block
In this part, the influence of the diameter of additional block is
investigated and the mass of additional block is constant when the
diameter varies. Fig. 9 shows the sound transmission loss curves of
the structure with different diameter mass fixed on. the diameter of
additional block not only affect the position and height of the first
peak, but also have an influence on the level of sound transmission
loss. As shown in Fig. 9, the frequency and value of the first peak is
increasing as the diameter of additional block increase and the level
of sound transmission loss can be improved by expanding the diameter

7
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257

is fixed and the size of the structure is changed. As shown in Fig. 11,
the overall STL curve rises when the unit cell size decreases. When
the unit cell size changed, to keep the height of the structure fixed,
the angle between the truss and panel is changed thus the translational
and rotational springs’ stiffness is changed which makes the frequency
of the peak reduce. This tendency can be found in Fig. 11. When the
unit cell size improves, the STL of the structure increases to a lesser
extent at low frequency. This performance is mainly caused by the
growth of membrane ratio in the surface area of the structure.

3.5. Incident wave angle

3.5.1. Incident angle

The STL curves of the same structure with different incident wave
is plot in Fig. 12. As shown in Fig. 12 the change of incident angle of
the incident wave has a great influence on the sound transmission loss
of the structure. When the incident angle of the incident sound wave is
small, the structure has stronger sound insulation ability. The change
of incident angle affects the incident energy thus affect the sound
transmission loss of the structure. The position of the first peak does
Fig. 9. STL of structure with different diameters of additional block.

of additional block. But there is a change near 1750 Hz, when the fre-
quency is higher than 1750 Hz, the STL of the structure is rising with
smaller diameter of additional block. This performance may cause by
frequency reduction of the peak which is not appeared in the figure.

3.3. Grid

The influence of the grid width on the sound transmission loss of

the structure can be found in Fig. 10. The grid width is almost no influ-
ence to the position and value of the first peak, and the STL after the
peak rises when the grid width increases. The increase of STL above
250 Hz is caused by the stiffness improvement of the grid. The sound
wave transmitted through the structure is mainly caused by the vibra-
tion of the membrane. As can be seen in Fig. 8, the grid width has a
little effect on STL of the structure.

3.4. Unit cell size

In this section, the influence of unit cell size to the STL of the struc-
Fig. 11. Effect of unit cell size to the STL of the structure.
ture is investigated. During the study, the height of the total structure

Fig. 10. Influence of the grid width to the STL of the structure. Fig. 12. Influence of different incident angle to the STL.

8
Y.-Z. Wang, L. Ma
Fig. 13. Influence of the azimuth angle to the STL.
not change with incident angle. When the sound wave is vertical to the
structure, the best sound insulation performance can be obtained. This
is because the vertical vibration of the membrane can attenuate verti-
cally incident sound waves to the greatest extent.
3.5.2. Azimuth angle
The sound transmission loss curves of structure with different azi-
muth angles are plot in Fig. 13. when the azimuth angle changes,
the STL curves are almost the same. The influence of the azimuth angle
to the STL is very small. The periodic boundary condition is used at the
boundary of the unit cell which makes the all structure is supposed as
an infinite panel. In this case, the azimuth angle has little effect on the
STL of the structure.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, a new structure composed of pyramidal truss core
sandwich structure and membrane‐type metamaterial is designed.
The pyramidal truss core sandwich structure has outstanding mechan-
ical properties, membrane‐type metamaterial is usually used in
improving the sound insulation ability. By combine the two structure,
the new structure with both good mechanical properties and excellent
acoustic performance at low frequency can be obtained. The effect of
parameters to the sound transmission loss of the structure are studied.
The structure has higher STL with larger grid width, smaller incident
angle and smaller unit cell size. The improve of membrane tension
and additional mass will let the first peak of the STL curve have larger
value and appear at higher frequency. The azimuth angle of the inci-
dent wave has almost no influence to the STL of the structure. By cou-
pling the membrane‐type metamaterial and the sandwich structure
with pyramidal truss cores together, the better sound insulation perfor-
mance can be obtained. Such coupling structure has good application
prospects in many fields.
5. Data availability
The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings will
be made available on email request.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yu‐Zhou Wang: Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Val-
idation, Writing ‐ original draft. Li Ma: Conceptualization, Formal
9
Composite Structures xxx (2020) 113257
analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing
‐ review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China under grant number 12072092.
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