NSF funds research on nature-inspired materials for superior noise control and acoustic wave absorption.

A close-up of a sunflower’s center, showcasing the intricate Fibonacci spiral pattern of its seeds.

A joint team of researchers from the University of Washington (UW) and State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo has received over $500,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop innovative patterned structural designs for noise reduction, inspired by the Fibonacci spiral arrangement of sunflower seeds.

Assistant Professor Ed Habtour, Professor Edmund Seto and Assistant Professor Tomás Méndez Echenagucia.

Led by Assistant Professor Ed Habtour from the aeronautics and astronautics department at UW, the project aims to deepen our understanding of how geometric patterns affect wave dynamics. The research seeks to create new design principles for irregular geometric patterns in acoustic meta-materials, -structures, and -surfaces, potentially revolutionizing how we control and absorb sound waves.

"Recent studies in biology revealed that sunflowers distort their floret patterns to attract pollinators and avoid pests. By mimicking their distorted pattern designs, we can achieve two things current regular designs can't: better control of properties of the wave dynamics and reduction of acoustic noise over wider frequency ranges," explained Professor Habtour.

The research team, which includes SUNY Associate Professor Mostafa Nouh, Professor Edmund Seto from the UW School of Public Health, and Assistant Professor Tomás Méndez Echenagucia from the UW Department of Architecture, will develop models and prototypes to understand how these natural patterns can be applied to engineered multifunctional structures that can attenuate acoustic waves while meeting the structural durability objectives.

Focusing on practical applications, the researchers will be targeting noise in the 200-2000 Hz range, which is known to harm human hearing and health. This includes sounds from highways traffic, aircraft, trains, and construction activities. They will create demonstration prototypes of indoor and outdoor acoustic attenuation panels designed for integration into buildings and vehicles.

Beyond the scientific work, the project has a social justice component. Habtour and Seto will work with schools in disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately affected by noise pollution, especially near airports and airfields in Washington state. They will demonstrate how communities can create their own affordable, non-toxic alternatives to current noise-reduction products.

The researchers hope their work will lead to a new generation of materials that can reduce noise pollution more effectively, while also empowering communities to adopt and benefit from these innovations early on. This research could potentially extend to other applications involving electromagnetic and light waves in the future.