Multi-stable acoustic metamaterials with re-configurable mass distribution

Abstract

This article proposes a design strategy for acoustic metamaterial lattices which leverages the characteristic multi-stability and kinematic amplification of the internal architecture to realize a re-configurable effective mass distribution, enabling a corresponding frequency band structure of extreme tunability. The approach builds metamaterial lattices from bi-stable elastic elements featuring the typical two-bar inertial amplification mechanism, whose deformation axis is uniquely misaligned with that of its elastic support such that the realized amplification is configuration-specific. Conveniently, a change in the configuration does not simultaneously alter the element dimensions and, therefore, the size/shape of the finite metamaterial structure remains constant. Moreover, as the multi-stability and kinematic amplification are each based on geometry, scaling the resulting metamaterial structure is expected to be straightforward. The dynamic performance of 1D/2D metamaterial architectures exhibiting the proposed design strategy is analytically determined via Bloch wave analysis and supported by numerical demonstration of the corresponding finite structures.