Solid films and transports in cellular foams

Abstract

We show that critical path ideas lead to the identification of two local characteristic sizes for the long wavelength acoustic properties in cellular solids, the pore and throat sizes. Application of the model to real foam samples, which may contain solid films or membranes yields quantitative agreement between a finite-element numerical homogenization approach and experimental results. From three routinely available laboratory measurements: the open porosity ϕ, the static viscous permeability k0, and the average struts length Lm obtained from microscopy analysis; asymptotic transport parameters at high-frequencies and the normal incidence sound absorption coefficient are derived with no adjustable parameters.