Band folding induced broadband vibration suppression of star-shaped metamaterials: theory and experiment

Metamaterials with bandgap features can block wave propagation in specific frequency ranges and thus have wide applications for vibration mitigation and noise reduction. In this study, we renovated the design of star-shaped metamaterial (SSM) to make it capable of producing lower and wider vibration bandgaps. Unlike traditional periodic truss structures in the literature, the designed SSM structure breaks the spatial symmetry, opening the degenerate points formed by the band folding effect, thereby producing extra bandgaps for vibration suppression. First of all, a finite element (FE) model of the SSM is established, and its band structures and vibration transmittance are calculated. The preliminary result validated our hypothesis, demonstrating that the proposed SSM structure created additional bandgaps for suppressing low-frequency and broadband vibrations. Subsequently, the frequency response analyses are conducted using the spectral element method (SEM) and experimental test. The effects of the structural parameters on the bandgaps of the proposed SSM are studied. In addition, we further extended and generalized the band folding design concept. We showed that one can produce more bandgaps by designing high-order SSMs. In general, this study presents an approach for designing truss structures with improved vibration suppression performance.