An active viscoelastic metamaterial with enhanced band gap properties

Abstract

Metamaterials have been the subject of significant interest over the past decade due to their ability to produce novel acoustic behaviour beyond that seen in naturally occurring media. Of particular interest is the appearance of band gaps which lead to very high levels of attenuation across the material within narrow frequency ranges. Unlike traditional periodic materials which have been employed at high frequencies, the resonant elements within metamaterials allow band gaps to form within the long wavelength limit. It is at low frequencies where it is most difficult to design satisfactory passive isolation solutions, and hence metamaterials may provide a useful path to high performance, low frequency isolation. A locally resonant, periodic metamaterial is presented that could be employed as a high performance vibration isolator at low frequencies. The passively occurring band gap is enhanced using an active control architecture. The use of the active control system in conjunction with the natural passive behaviour of the metamaterial enables high levels of isolation across a broad frequency range. An eventual goal of the work is to produce such materials on a small scale, and as such the metamaterial developed has been designed for, and produced using, additive layer manufacturing techniques.

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