Indian Scientists Develop Noise Control Panels Inspired by Beehives

What is the News?

An Indian researcher has fabricated paper honeycomb and stronger polymer honeycomb structure as sound-absorbing panels that dissipate acoustic energy to low-frequency ranges.

Significance of this research:

Many traditional materials have been found to be good at controlling higher frequencies, but not at lower frequency ranges.

However, natural beehives have been found to efficiently control high as well as low frequencies because of their geometry. This behaviour was owing to the conversion of acoustical energy into vibration energy. This vibration energy is dissipated in the form of heat due to wall damping properties. 

Hence, mimicking this property as an engineering solution could offer a cost-effective method for controlling noise pollution.

What is Acoustic Energy?

Acoustics is the branch of physics that is concerned with the study of sound.

Acoustic energy is the disturbance of energy, which passes through a material in the form of waves. An example of acoustic energy is sound energy. When sound travels through any medium, it produces vibrations in the form of waves.

Source: This post is based on the article “Indian Scientists Develop Noise Control Panels Inspired by Beehives” published in PIB on 10th September 2021.