Controllable wave propagation of hybrid dispersive medium with LC high-pass network (Conference Presentation)

This work reports on the wave transmission characteristics of a hybrid one dimensional (1D) medium. The hybrid characteristic is the result of the coupling between a mechanical waveguide in the form of an elastic beam, and an electrical network. The network configuration investigated is an LC high-pass, consisting of a series of capacitors connected in series through grounded inductors. The capacitors correspond to a periodic array of piezoelectric patches that are bonded to the beam thus coupling the two waveguides. The coupling is characterized by a coincidence frequency/wavenumber corresponding to the intersection of the dispersion curves. At this coincidence frequency, the hybrid medium features attenuation of wave motion as a result of the energy transfer to the electrical network. This energy exchange is depicted in the dispersion by eigenvalue crossing, a particular case of eigenvalue veering. This paper presents the numerical investigations of the wave propagation in the considered medium, and validates the numerical findings with experimental evidence of the wave transmission characteristics. Moreover, the dispersion properties of the electrical network are further studied by varying the inductances thus exploiting the tunability of the periodic electrical domain, i.e: monoatomic and diatmomic unit cell configurations. The LC high-pass network offers several advantages over other configurations, from ease of implementation as the piezoelectric elements are not grounded, to a smaller inductance values to achieve attenuation at a given frequency. Such media could be interfaced with more complex electrical networks to create a new type of smart materials.