Acoustical "transparency" induced by local resonance in Bragg bandgaps

We show that sound waves can resonantly transmit through Bragg bandgaps in an acoustical duct periodically attached with an array of Helmholtz resonators, forming within the normally forbidden band a transparency window with group velocity smaller than the normal speed of sound. The transparency occurs for the locally resonant frequency so much close to the Bragg one that both the local-resonance-induced bandgap and the Bragg one heavily overlap with each other. The phenomenon seems an acoustical analog of the well-known electromagnetically induced transparency by quantum interference. Different from the Fano-like interference explanation, we also provide a mechanism for the transparency window phenomenon which makes it possible to extend the phenomenon in general. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.