A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins

Abstract In the automotive industry, the absorption coefficient of a porous material layer is usually measured in an alpha cabin, a reverberant chamber of reduced dimensions where the operational frequency range is limited and the absorbent sample size is typically small. Those characteristics are w...

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Main Authors: Laura Río-Martín, Andrés Prieto, Alfredo Bermúdez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-05-01
Series:Journal of Mathematics in Industry
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13362-025-00173-0
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author Laura Río-Martín
Andrés Prieto
Alfredo Bermúdez
author_facet Laura Río-Martín
Andrés Prieto
Alfredo Bermúdez
author_sort Laura Río-Martín
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In the automotive industry, the absorption coefficient of a porous material layer is usually measured in an alpha cabin, a reverberant chamber of reduced dimensions where the operational frequency range is limited and the absorbent sample size is typically small. Those characteristics are well adapted to the requirements of automotive acoustics but far from the standard reverberant chambers used in building acoustics which ensures the conditions to perform measurements under a diffusive field. Since there are no standard norms to measure the absorption coefficient under non-diffusive fields, this work proposes a time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach to compute the absorption coefficient in alpha cabins. For this purpose, pointwise numerical predictions of the sound pressure level decay rate are used to calculate the absorption coefficient associated with a porous sample. To generate the pressure field acting inside the alpha cabin and, subsequently, approximate its decay rate, time-harmonic numerical simulations at a fixed frequency and a full time-dependent discretization of the wave problem have been considered. The proposed methodology is validated in a manufactured scenario where the exact solution is known in closed form. Finally, a realistic three-dimensional alpha cabin is deemed to predict the diffuse field absorption coefficient from the computed reverberation times using the proposed hybrid approach and the heuristic Sabine and Millington formulas.
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issn 2190-5983
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spelling doaj-art-9c989fae6fcd49cd9bf90322ac1bfe272025-08-20T03:10:18ZengSpringerOpenJournal of Mathematics in Industry2190-59832025-05-0115112310.1186/s13362-025-00173-0A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabinsLaura Río-Martín0Andrés Prieto1Alfredo Bermúdez2Laboratory of Applied Mathematics, DICAM, University of TrentoCITMAga, Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidade da CoruñaCITMAga, Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaAbstract In the automotive industry, the absorption coefficient of a porous material layer is usually measured in an alpha cabin, a reverberant chamber of reduced dimensions where the operational frequency range is limited and the absorbent sample size is typically small. Those characteristics are well adapted to the requirements of automotive acoustics but far from the standard reverberant chambers used in building acoustics which ensures the conditions to perform measurements under a diffusive field. Since there are no standard norms to measure the absorption coefficient under non-diffusive fields, this work proposes a time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach to compute the absorption coefficient in alpha cabins. For this purpose, pointwise numerical predictions of the sound pressure level decay rate are used to calculate the absorption coefficient associated with a porous sample. To generate the pressure field acting inside the alpha cabin and, subsequently, approximate its decay rate, time-harmonic numerical simulations at a fixed frequency and a full time-dependent discretization of the wave problem have been considered. The proposed methodology is validated in a manufactured scenario where the exact solution is known in closed form. Finally, a realistic three-dimensional alpha cabin is deemed to predict the diffuse field absorption coefficient from the computed reverberation times using the proposed hybrid approach and the heuristic Sabine and Millington formulas.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13362-025-00173-0Alpha cabinReverberation timeAbsorbing coefficientFinite element method
spellingShingle Laura Río-Martín
Andrés Prieto
Alfredo Bermúdez
A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
Journal of Mathematics in Industry
Alpha cabin
Reverberation time
Absorbing coefficient
Finite element method
title A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
title_full A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
title_fullStr A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
title_full_unstemmed A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
title_short A time-harmonic/time-domain hybrid approach based on displacement-based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
title_sort time harmonic time domain hybrid approach based on displacement based formulations to compute the absorbing coefficient in alpha cabins
topic Alpha cabin
Reverberation time
Absorbing coefficient
Finite element method
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13362-025-00173-0
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