Digitally Programmable Resonant Elastic Metamaterials
Christopher Sugino, Massimo Ruzzene, Alper Ertürk
Abstract
Elastic metamaterials enable broadband control of vibration and wave propagation in structures, but their capabilities are limited by their fixed effective material properties. This work uses a piezoelectric metamaterial and digital control to create a $f\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}y$ $p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}g\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}b\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e$ resonant band gap in a mechanical waveguide. Experiments demonstrate that the structure exhibits a resonant band gap that can be precisely tuned across a wide frequency range spanning several natural modes of the structure. This platform is expected to open doors to research on elastic metamaterials with effective properties that vary in space or time, significantly extending wave control in structures.