In our research, we have demonstrated that metamaterials made of bistable elements, i.e., multistable metamaterials, can be used as reconfigurable metamaterials. Applying an elastic deformation can be used to cause a reconfiguration of the metamaterial from one stable configuration to another stable configuration. With a judiciously designed arrangement of bistable elements, it is possible to obtain broadband band gaps in some deformed stable configurations in the case of a one-dimensional multistable metamaterial: there are wide frequency ranges in which elastic waves cannot propagate. Because these bandgaps can only be observed in some of the stable configurations of the metamaterials, these metamaterials can be used as acoustic switches: deformation can switch on/off the propagation of elastic waves. In the case of a two-dimensional system, directional bandgaps can be observed, such that the metamaterial can be used as a reconfigurable waveguides.
Publications:
- Meaud, J., Che, K., 2017, Tuning elastic wave propagation in multistable architected materials, International Journal of Solids and Structures, 122-123:69:80
- Meaud, J., 2018, Multistable two-dimensional dimensional spring-mass lattices with tunable band gaps and wave directionality, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 434:44-62
- Meaud, J., 2020, Nonlinear wave propagation and dynamic reconfiguration in two-dimensional lattices with bistable elements, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 473:1115239