Effects of elastic anisotropy in phononic band-gap plates with two-dimensional lattices

This study presents the effects of elastic anisotropy of constituent materials in square-lattice phononic-crystal plates. Using general elastodynamic calculations and the finite element (FE) method, this study analyses phononic-crystal plates constituted by (1) anisotropic scatterers embedded in an epoxy plate and (2) air holes etched on an anisotropic plate. The full band gaps can be modulated, opened and closed by changing the orientation of the square lattice relative to the crystallographic coordinate system of the anisotropic materials, and the elastic anisotropy varies the dispersion curves of the phononic-crystal plate waves with the rotation of the square lattice. Acoustic power transmission calculations show incident plate mode-dependent spectral gaps, the appearances of which in the frequency spectrum can also be modulated and shifted using elastic anisotropy. The effects of elastic anisotropy demonstrated here enable tailoring frequency band gaps and dispersion curves for functional control of acoustic-wave energy flows in phononic-crystal plates. Applications include acoustic waveguiding, confining, self-collimating and perfect acoustic focusing.