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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 96 » Issue 5
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 058002 (2006) [4 pages]

Energy Trapping and Shock Disintegration in a Composite Granular Medium

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C. Daraio1, V. F. Nesterenko1,2,*, E. B. Herbold2, and S. Jin1,2
1Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0418, USA
2Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0411, USA

Received 23 September 2005; revised 7 November 2005; published 9 February 2006

We report the first experimental observation of impulse confinement and the disintegration of shock and solitary waves in one-dimensional strongly nonlinear composite granular materials. The chains consist of alternating ensembles of beads with high and low elastic moduli (more than 2 orders of magnitude difference) of different masses. The trapped energy is contained within the “softer” sections of the composite chain and is slowly released in the form of weak, separated pulses over an extended period of time. This effect is enhanced by using a specific group assembly and precompression.

© 2006 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.058002
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.058002
PACS:
45.70.−n, 05.45.Yv, 43.25.+y, 46.40.Cd

*Electronic address: vnesterenko@ucsd.edu

 
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