Propagation of Rarefaction Pulses in Discrete Materials with Strain-Softening Behavior

We report on the dynamic behavior of strongly nonlinear discrete materials with anomalous strain-softening behavior. Rarefaction solitary waves found in numerical calculations agree well with the exact solution to the continuum wave equation. Compression pulses generated by impact quickly disintegrate into a leading rarefaction solitary wave followed by an oscillatory wave train containing localized excitations. Such behavior is favorable for metamaterials design of shock absorption layers as well as tunable information transmission lines for scrambling of acoustic information. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.144101