A self-recoverable negative stiffness metamaterial with enhanced bearing and energy dissipation capacity

Abstract Because of their desirable properties, mechanical metamaterials have drawn increasing attention. Negative stiffness (NS) metamaterials can be used as reusable energy dissipation devices, but they usually have low bearing capacity. In this study, a self-recoverable NS structure with enhanced bearing and energy dissipation capacity was proposed. It breaks free from the size limitations of curved beams or thin rods, and can have high bearing and energy dissipation capacity through the mutual extrusion and friction between the snap plug and the layered snap groove. The mechanical properties of the proposed NS structure were studied by finite element analysis and experiments. The reusability of the structure was verified by cyclic loading experiments. The results show that compared with the traditional curved beam NS structure and the previously self-recoverable NS structure, the bearing and energy dissipation capacity of the proposed structure have been greatly improved.