Feasibility Analysis on the Attenuation of Strong Ground Motions Using Finite Periodic Lattices of Mass-in-Mass Barriers

This study assesses the implementation of locally resonant metamaterials in seismic isolation applications by investigating their potential feasibility in the [0.5, 5.0] Hz frequency band. To this end, via adoption of both Bloch's theory and classical vibration analysis, the one-dimensional mass-in-mass lattice is analyzed in three overlapping subbands and corresponding relations for the structural parameters are derived. Accordingly, a basic unit cell is proposed that incorporates a core of dense material that is suspended in a thin shell composed of a lightweight material using distributed elastomeric tendons. Initial numerical simulations on finite-dimensional lattices reveal significant potential in the proposed solution and encourage further investigation, particularly to the two-dimensional case.