Reduction of vibration by periodically stitched sandwich panel

Abstract This work reveals that the addition of periodically distributed stitches to sandwich structure enables a significant reduction of vibration in stop-band and this new functionality is systematically investigated. Firstly, a finite element model which is capable of taking into consideration the three layers of the sandwich as well as the stitches is developed. The diagram of dispersion is calculated by applying Floquet-Bloch theorem to the boundaries of unit cell. With properly chosen properties of stitches, a stop-band for flexural wave is observed. This stop-band is further confirmed by the forced response of a large stitched sandwich panel under point excitation. The level of vibration in the stop-band is significantly reduced. The influence of the stitch rigidity and density on upper and lower limits of stop-band is also examined, which confirms that stitched sandwich can be tuned to mitigate vibration in a certain frequency band with appropriate stitch properties. These investigations have demonstrated the potential application of stitched sandwich in the area of vibration reduction.