Porous metal absorbers for underwater sound

Rubber has traditionally been used for underwater sound absorption. Porous metal is a relatively lightweight material and also has higher strength than rubber. However, exactly how porous metals can be used as effective underwater sound absorbers remains unclear. This paper shows how to use porous metal absorbers so that they work well under water, even under fairly constrained conditions. A method of nondimensional analysis is proposed that allows identification of vital characteristics. This means that such characteristics can be varied and the absorbers themselves filled with different types of viscous fluids. Such analysis suggests that the sound absorption coefficient of porous metals does not always increase when there are either increases in porosity or decreases in average pore size. The same method of analysis can show how, by choice of the right characteristics to choose a suitable viscous fluid, a porous metal absorber can be built that takes up little space but still effectively absorbs underwater sounds at low frequencies.