Enhancement of the vibration attenuation characteristics in local resonance metamaterial beams: Theory and experiment

Abstract

Enhancing vibration isolation with local resonance metamaterials has attracted widespread attention due to the low-frequency band gap. However, the narrow band gaps limit its application. To improve vibration suppression properties over a wide frequency range under the constraints of space and mass in engineering, this paper presents the modeling techniques and design strategies for a local resonance elastic metamaterial beam with multiple resonators. The local resonance sub-system contains multi-degree-of-freedom resonators and is periodically mounted on the elastic beam. Two special cases, the elastic metamaterial beam with one-degree-of-freedom local resonator sub-system (1-DOF) and two-degree-of-freedom local resonator sub-system (2-DOF) are used to investigate the vibration attenuation characteristics in detail. Results are presented in the form of attenuation constant, which are calculated by the extended plane wave expansion (EPWE) method. The effects of frequency spacing, damping and mass ratio on the vibration attenuation characteristics of elastic metamaterial beams are comprehensively investigated. The results show that a wider and more stable attenuation range can be obtained by reasonably adjusting these three parameters. Finally, the comparison of experimental and simulation results demonstrates that the design strategies proposed in this paper can broaden the vibration attenuation regions. The theoretical approaches and design schemes can provide effective guidance for passive vibration control.