Acoustic Insulation Characteristics and Optimal Design of Membrane-Type Metamaterials Loaded with Asymmetric Mass Blocks

Membrane-type acoustic metamaterials (MAMs) are the focus of the current research due to their lightweight, small size, and good low-frequency sound insulation performance. However, there exists difficulties for extensive application because of the narrow sound insulation band. In order to achieve broadband sound isolation under the premise of lightweight, a novel MAM with asymmetric rings is firstly proposed in this paper. The sound transmission loss (STL) of this MAM is calculated by an analytical method and is verified by the finite element model. The different properties of the membrane when it is loaded with one, two, or four mass blocks are analyzed. The comparison with the traditional MAM proves the superior performance of this novel MAM. Moreover, by discussing the influence of the eccentricity and distribution position of the masses on the results, the tunability of the sound insulation performance of this MAM is proven. Finally, the Isight platform is used to optimize the MAM to further improve the broadband sound insulation performance: the average STL of the MAM is improved by 15.7%, the bandwidth above 30 dB is improved by 11.5%, and the mass density is reduced by 30.01%.