| Accurate acoustic propagation models are required to characterize and subsequently reduce aircraft engine noise. These models ultimately rely on acoustic impedance measurements of candidate materials used in sound-absorbing liners. The standard two-microphone method (TMM) is widely used to estimate acoustic impedance but is limited in frequency range and does not provide uncertainty estimates, which are essential for data quality assessment and model validation. This dissertation presents a systematic framework to estimate uncertainty and extend the frequency range of acoustic impedance testing.; Uncertainty estimation for acoustic impedance data using the TMM is made via two methods. The first employs a standard analytical technique based on linear perturbations and provides useful scaling information. The second uses a Monte Carlo technique that permits the propagation of arbitrarily large uncertainties. Both methods are applied to the TMM for simulated data representative of sound-hard and sound-soft acoustic materials. The results indicate that the analytical technique can lead to false conclusions about the magnitude and importance of specific error sources. Furthermore, the uncertainty in acoustic impedance is strongly dependent on the frequency and the uncertainty in the microphone locations.; Next, an increased frequency range of acoustic impedance testing is investigated via two methods. The first method reduces the size of the test specimen (from 25.4 mm square to 8.5 mm square) and uses the standard TMM. This method has issues concerning specimen nonuniformity because the small specimens may not be representative of the material. The second method increases the duct cross section and, hence, the required complexity of the sound field propagation model. A comparison among all three methods is conducted for each of the three specimens: two different ceramic tubular specimens and a single degree-of-freedom liner. The results show good agreement between the TMM and the modal decomposition method for the larger specimens, but the methods disagree for the smaller specimen size. The results for the two ceramic tubular materials show a repeating resonant pattern with a monotonic decrease in the resonant peaks of the acoustic resistance with increasing frequency. Also, significant mode scattering is evident in most of the specimens tested. |
