Transition Wave Interference in Multistable Mechanical Metamaterials

Abstract Mechanical metamaterials with multiple stable configurations offer a promising avenue for the design and development of adaptable materials with unprecedented levels of control over physical properties. Specifically, arrays of bistable beam elements represent a unique metamaterial platform with tunable transition waves offering means of passive control, sensing, and memory effects of environmental conditions. Although previous studies have mainly investigated transition waves triggered by a static input in nonlinear metamaterials, the dynamic properties of these structures and the interference of colliding waves are still unknown. Here, we investigate the dynamic properties of arrays of bistable beam elements which are important keys in the further development of applications of these metastructures. We determine the critical force and the optimal location to apply a force to trigger a transition wave and characterize the natural frequencies of the metamaterial. Moreover, we study the interference between two transition waves simultaneously actuated at both ends of the one-dimensional multistable array. Our new insights on the nonlinear dynamic responses of multistable metamaterials pave the wave for the ability to design and program adaptable structures with enhanced energy absorption, vibration isolation, and wave steering capabilities.