Metamaterial I-Girder for Vibration Absorption of Composite Cable-Stayed Bridge

This paper explores the basic mechanism of a metamaterial I-girder. The metamaterial I-girder is designed by integrating a mass-spring-damper subsystem with an I-girder to act as a multifrequency vibration absorber. The local vibration absorber creates shear force to absorb the vibration energy under the resonant excited state. The efficiency of the metamaterial I-girder is verified via numerical testing on a steel beam and a cable-stayed bridge. The results show that the resonance of the vibration absorber creates stopbands of frequencies that are influenced by the absorber's mass ratio. Each stopband's width can be increased by increasing the absorbers' damping. Moreover, the metamaterial I-girder can be used for the absorption of elastic waves caused by traffic loads and earthquakes on composite cable-stayed bridges.