Experimental study of sound radiation by plates containing circular indentations of power-law profile

In this paper, the results of the first experimental investigation into sound radiation of rectangular plates containing tapered indentations of power-law profile are reported. Such tapered indentations materialise two-dimensional acoustic black holes for flexural waves in plates that result in absorption of a large proportion of the incident wave energy. A multi-indentation plate was compared to a plain reference plate of the same dimensions, and the radiated sound power was determined according to ISO 3744. It was demonstrated that not only do such multiple indentations provide substantial reduction in the damping of flexural vibrations within the plates, but also cause a substantial reduction in the radiated sound power. As the amplitudes of the flexural vibrations of a plate are directly linked to the amplitudes of radiated sound from the same plate, this paper also considers the effect of redistribution of the amplitude of the plate’s response due to the presence of acoustic black holes on the amplitudes of the radiated sound. The results show that, in spite of some increase in the amplitudes of the displacements at the centres of black holes (circular indentations), the overall reduction of vibration response over the plate is large enough to cause a substantial reduction in the resulting sound radiation from plates containing indentations of power-law profile.