This paper presents a highly efficient numerical meshless methodology capable to predict the performance of acoustic thin barriers used in road and railway traffic systems. The proposed approach operates on a hybrid framework combining the singular boundary method (SBM) with the method of fundamental solutions (MFS), resulting in a hybrid SBM-MFS approach. A key feature of this method in comparison to a fully MFS approach is its capability to address challenges related to complex boundary geometries, effectively addressing corners and sharp edges in barriers. This is accomplished through the specific formulation of the method that utilizes the SBM to precisely model corners of the geometries while employing the MFS to handle the smoother sections. Two calculation examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach: a line source diffraction problem in the presence of a T-shaped thin barrier, in one case, and a straight-walled thin barrier in the other one. Compared to former state-of-the-art simulation strategies, the novel hybrid SBM-MFS approach keeps the simplicity of the formulation of fully SBM and MFS approaches while significantly overcomes the accuracy of both approaches and the computational efficiency of the MFS.

This research has been carried out with the financial support of the project: Mitigación del ruido mediante metamateriales acústicos: fabricación y validación experimental, with reference TED2021-129413B-C22. The first author would like to thank the financial support provided by the FPI-UPC 2017 grant (reference 07), funded by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and Banco Santander.

Peer Reviewed