The objective of this EAGER project is to develop a novel multifunctional cellular metacomposite with interplay between a cellular composite and metamaterial response through microstructure design. As a superior lightweight, thin and strong structural material, the metacomposite will simultaneously serve to attenuate low frequency noise (LFN) and low frequency vibration (LFV), and convert hazardous LFN and LFV energy into usable electric energy through the piezoelectric effect. The study will provide a theoretical foundation to evaluate acoustic metamaterials and understand microstructure mechanism. If successful, the theory and approaches in this research will lead to industrial engineering applications. The proposed design also promises to accelerate acoustic multifunctional metacomposites for energy harvesting, which is cheap, clean and very efficient. Practical engineering applications of metamaterials are still in the conceptual stage and no real acoustic cellular metacomposite have been developed. This is a high-risk, but potentially high impact study.
The subject of this research is of fundamental interest to acoustic metamaterials and novel functional material design. This research will provide a new paradigm for design of mechanical systems such as low-frequency vibration suppression, low-frequency noise filter and green energy harvesting. The research allows students to integrate analytical, numerical and experimental approaches into their education and research programs, which will significantly contribute to the independent research career of the trainees. This work will have deep and lasting educational and outreach benefits to UALR and the surrounding region.
Cellular composite is the optimum design for high stiffness and light-weight sandwich panels. It is widely applied in aerospace application and recently used in partitions, floors, doors in high-rise buildings. However, it is very difficult to increase the noise transmission loss of cellular panels at low frequencies due to their thin thickness and small damping. The practical engineering application by using metamaterials is still in the conceptual stage and no real acoustic cellular metacomposite was fabricated before. In the project, a novel multifunctional cellular metacomposite is developed with the interplay between the cellular composite and the metamaterial through the microstructure design. As a superior lightweight, thin and strong structural material, the metacomposite will simultaneously function for the LFN and LFV absorber. The research provides a theoretical foundation to evaluate acoustic metacomposite and understand microstructure mechanism. The proposed homogenization theory can be incorporated into simulation-based design for acoustic metamaterials with different microstructures, and can be especially beneficial for the analysis of microstructure mechanism of dynamic material behavior of metamaterials. Considerable initial progress has been made on this and related problems, including determination of the dynamic effective properties of acoustic metamaterials. This research will provide a new paradigm for design of engineering applications such as low-frequency vibration suppression, low-frequency noise filter. One graduate student is trained to integrate analytical, numerical and experimental approaches into his education and research programs.
