Burr Puzzle-Inspired Seismic Metamaterials

Two novel seismic metamaterials models, trophy and apple core, inspired by an ancient Chinese puzzle are proposed in this study. Bandgaps below 15Hz are achieved by exclusively using concrete as the base material in the designs. Vibration modes are investigated to clarify the bandgap formation. Through comparison, we found that under the same volume, the apple core model can provide a lower frequency bandgap than the trophy model. Results from transient simulations and band structures are in good agreement, validating the accuracy of the simulation results. To broaden the bandwidth, the radii of the apple core models are varied and arranged in a gradient pattern. Transient analyses using a Gaussian wave packet and Taiwan's Chi-Chi earthquake dataset are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the gradient apple core seismic metamaterial.