Metamaterials for underwater noise mitigation
The aim of this project is to exploit acoustic metamaterials as underwater acoustic barriers, i.e. noise mitigation systems for wind farm constructions. The scientific challenge of the project is twofold. Firstly, acoustic metamaterials available so far in the literature show extraordinary performances in terms of sound absorption in a narrow frequency range and are usually not optimized to operate in a wide frequency band as required by the present application. Secondly, acoustic metamaterials proposed until now usually do not respect the flexibility and deployability requirements that are necessary in this project. The design and optimization of proper acoustic metamaterials will be based on the thorough study of acoustic waves propagation in water. Numerical analyses by means of Finite Elements Method (FEM) commercial softwares or ad-hoc developed routines will be employed as well in the project.