Piezoelectric metastructures for simultaneous broadband energy harvesting and vibration suppression of traveling waves

In this paper, we explore an electromechanical metastructure consisting of a periodic array of piezoelectric bimorphs with resistive-inductive loads for simultaneous harvesting and attenuation of traveling wave energy. We develop fully coupled analytical models, i.e. an electroelastic transfer matrix method, and exploit both locally-resonant and Bragg band gaps to achieve a multifunctional metastructure which is capable for maximum energy conversion and vibration mitigation in a broadband fashion. Our analytical and numerical results show that the proposed metastructure can achieve energy harvesting efficiency up to 95% at the local resonance frequency of 3.18 kHz, while reaching about 51% at 5.8 kHz near the upper limit of the Bragg band gap. The broadband vibration mitigation performance based on 50% power attenuation is predicted as 1.8 and 1.1 kHz in the vicinity of the band gaps. The theoretical frameworks and the applicability of the proposed metastructure are validated using a full-scale experimental setup.

Automated summary

This paper investigates an electromechanical metastructure for harvesting and attenuation of traveling wave energy. The metastructure is capable of achieving maximum energy conversion and vibration mitigation through locally-resonant and Bragg band gaps. Experimental results validate the theoretical models and applicability of the proposed metastructure.