Design of cylindrical honeycomb sandwich meta-structures for vibration suppression

Abstract In this study, a lightweight cylindrical honeycomb sandwich structure with low-frequency vibration attenuation ability is designed. An analytical model based on Love shell theory is established to investigate the dispersion relations of an orthotropic cylindrical shell with local resonators. The low-frequency band gaps and the presence of negative effective mass density are confirmed analytically. Subsequently, the influences of curvature and orthotropy on wave propagation behavior are discussed and the prediction formula for band gaps is defined for engineering design. To verify the feasibility of the design method, a real cylindrical honeycomb sandwich meta-structure is first designed and fabricated by introducing local resonators into a square honeycomb structure. The forced vibration response of the proposed cylindrical meta-structure is studied using both numerical simulations and experimental validation. Furthermore, a cylindrical meta-structure with a plate inside is studied numerically and experimentally, which confirms its excellent vibration suppression performance in actual applications. This study is of great significance in promoting the application of local resonance meta-structures in engineering field.