Metadamping: Dissipation Emergence in Elastic Metamaterials

Resonant elastic metamaterials are artificial material systems that exhibit unique dynamical properties shaped by the intrinsic interaction between resonances and traveling dispersive waves. In this chapter, we provide a technical review of the recently proposed concept of dissipation emergence in elastic metamaterials. This concept is termed "metadamping." Unlike conventional materials used to dampen vibrations where the damping capacity is affected by the atomic configuration, defects, and/or rheological properties, here the level of dissipation is controlled via the dynamics of the metamaterial's resonant substructures. In this manner, it is possible to create a net material system that is both stiff and highly damped, to absorb vehicle vibrations for example. The chapter starts with a motivation and introduction of metadamping, and then presents an in-depth analysis and parametric study of metadamping in the context of both locally and nonlocally resonant elastic metamaterials modeled as mass-spring-dashpot systems. The effect of the core damping model (e.g., viscous vs nonviscous) is also examined. Finally, a review is given of metadamping in a pillared beam that has recently been investigated by experiments, simulations, and theory.