Impedance-matching acoustic bend composed of perforated plates and side pipes

In this article, we propose a design for an impedance-matching acoustic bend. The bending structure is composed of sub-wavelength unit cells containing perforated plates and side pipes that allow the mass density and the bulk modulus of each unit cell to be tuned simultaneously. The refractive index and the impedance of the acoustic bend can therefore be modulated simultaneously to guarantee both the bending effect and high acoustic transmission. The results of simulation of the sound pressure field distribution show that the bending effect of the proposed impedance-matching acoustic bend is very good. Transmission spectra are calculated for both the impedance-matching acoustic bend and an acoustic bend composed of the perforated plates alone for comparison. The results indicate that the impedance-matching acoustic bend successfully improves the impedance ratio while also obviously increasing the transmission. Published by AIP Publishing.