Metastructure with integrated internal oscillators of constant, linearly and nonlinearly varying natural frequency

Abstract

This research focuses on the analysis of the model and performance of lightweight metastructures encompassing a distributed array of internal homogenous oscillators, integrated into the host structure to create a single-piece element. This metastructure performs longitudinal vibrations, whose axis is colinear with the direction of the transverse vibration of the internal oscillators. First, the mechanical models of the separate elements of the metastructure and the metastructure as a whole are created and considered. The first modal frequencies of longitudinal vibrations of the metastructure with blocked and free internal oscillators are tuned to the first modal frequency of transverse vibration of one internal oscillator, yielding the optimal number of internal oscillators for this to be achieved, which is a new result for the proposed design. This theoretical result is then checked experimentally with the metastructures produced by 3D printing technology, comprising a different number of internal oscillators, all of which have the same natural frequency. Besides validating the theoretical results, experimental investigations with blocked and freely vibrating internal oscillators of the constant natural frequency are used to explore other performance characteristics, such as the width of the regions where the reduced amplitude is achieved. Finally, based on the theoretical and additional numerical results, the internal oscillators are modified in two ways, which is an original approach: their natural frequency is increased linearly and nonlinearly along the metastructure in accordance with the previous new theoretical results. The benefits of such new redesigns for the multi-modal performance characteristics of the metastructure are discussed.