Vibroacoustic metamaterial for enhanced low-frequency vibration mitigation using nonlinear local resonators

Abstract

The use of periodicity has become an exciting solution for structural noise and vibration reduction in many engineering applications. Acoustic metamaterials are structures built using repetitive assemblies of identical elements to explore either Bragg-scattering or internal resonance to control mechanical waves. They present frequency bands in which waves do not freely propagate, named bandgaps, allowing acoustic and vibration attenuation at various frequency ranges. If properly designed and implemented, nonlinear stiffness can result in resonance frequency shifts that broaden the attenuation frequency band and better isolate subsystems that could be sensitive to higher excitation levels. Therefore, this research proposal for a postdoctoral internship abroad is to enhance the vibroacoustic performance of metastructures by including nonlinear local resonators fabricated using an injection molding process. (AU)