Harnessing fluid-structure interactions to design self-regulating acoustic metamaterials

The design of phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials with tunable and adaptive wave properties remains one of the outstanding challenges for the development of next generation acoustic devices. We report on the numerical and experimental demonstration of a locally resonant acoustic metamaterial with dispersion characteristics, which autonomously adapt in response to changes of an incident aerodynamic flow. The metamaterial consists of a slender beam featuring a periodic array or airfoil-shaped masses supported by a linear and torsional springs. The resonance characteristics of the airfoils lead to strong attenuation at frequencies defined by the properties of the airfoils and the speed on the incident fluid. The proposed concept expands the ability of existing acoustic bandgap materials to autonomously adapt their dispersion properties through fluid-structure interactions, and has the potential to dramatically impact a variety of applications, such as robotics, civil infrastructures, and defense systems.