The absorption performance of anechoic coatings depends on the material properties, layer thicknesses and cavity distribution density and cavity size. In this paper a design method based on numerical simulation was presented by combining FEM and acoustic duct method (ADM).  Analyzing of anechoic coatings was performed under active sonar impinging plane wave by normal incident angle. In this approach considering a unit cell of anechoic coating and two ducts of the fluid on its both sides, the reflection characteristics, transmission and reflection coefficients of anechoic coating were calculated using acoustic duct theory. Validation was performed by comparing the results of simulation with the available experimental data. Also a design code in ANSYS software was developed.

Finally using this code and the proposed model, the acoustical behavior of anechoic coatings was investigated. The results show that sound transmission coefficient for coating with cylindrical cavity is larger than that of spherical cavity. Furthermore unlike the transmission coefficient, for all frequencies upper than 1500 Hz, coating with cylindrical cavity has a greater echo reduction and therefore its anechoic performance is better than that of spherical cavity.