Normal incidence sound insulation provided by Sonic Crystal Acoustic Screens made from rigid scatterers – assessment of different simulation methods

Sonic crystal acoustic screens have been in progressive research and development the last two decades as a technical solution for mitigating traffic noise. Their behaviour is quite different from that observed classical barriers, with latter being based on physically blocking direct sound propagation path (only allowing diffracted noise to reach sensible receivers), sonic crystals providing attenuation efficiency creation of “band-gaps” at specific frequency ranges, due Bragg’s interference phenomenon. The distinct physical mechanisms these types barriers complicates use simplified or even numerical models developed traditional simulate predict performance crystal, alternative methods become thus required. In acoustics scientific literature, several authors proposed estimation simulation tools insulation provided by new abatement solutions. This paper presents comparative evaluation some methods, emphasis assessment their accuracy versus memory usage order determine which one most suitable optimization methodologies design devices improved performance.