Sound insulation characteristics of sandwich thin-plate acoustic metamaterial: analysis and optimization

Addressing the demand for low-frequency noise control in ships and aiming to overcome the limitations imposed by the mass law of traditional materials, a sandwich thin-plate acoustic metamaterial (SPAM) was developed in this study. This structure is characterized by its simplicity and superior sound insulation performance. A sound insulation test was conducted to validate the exceptional low-frequency acoustic suppression capability of SPAM, and the effectiveness of the analytical model was also demonstrated. Subsequently, based on this model, a sensitivity analysis of the sound insulation characteristics of the SPAM relative to structural parameters was carried out. For the optimization process, the Logistic-Sine fusion chaotic mapping was employed to refine the dung beetle optimizer (DBO), enhancing the initial population distribution. The improved dung beetle optimizer (IDBO) was then used to further optimize and elevate the sound insulation performance of the SPAM. The outcomes indicate that the IDBO boasts superior optimization proficiency and accelerated convergence, while the optimized SPAM exhibits more remarkable sound insulation capabilities. Within the frequency range of 100–315[Formula: see text]Hz, the average sound transmission loss (STL) has increased by 11.94[Formula: see text]dB when compared to the pre-optimization values.