Focusing and Mode Separation of Elastic Vector Solitons in a 2D Soft Mechanical Metamaterial
Résumé
We report experimental, numerical, and analytical results describing the behavior of an anisotropic 2D flexible mechanical metamaterial based on rotating square mechanism when subjected to impact loading. We not only observe the propagation of elastic vector solitons with three components - two translational and one rotational - that are coupled together, but also very rich direction-dependent behaviors such as the formation of sound bullets and the separation of pulses into different solitary modes. Our study shows that soft mechanical metamaterials provide a convenient platform to study nonlinear wave propagation. Moreover, the 3D printability of these systems enables unique opportunities for engineering wave phenomena, ultimately providing new opportunities to control and manage intense vibrations and waves