arXiv subjects

Jacopo Maria De Ponti

Publications and source records attributed to Jacopo Maria De Ponti.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Metamaterials and Fluid Flows

Understanding and controlling the dynamic interactions between fluid flows and solid materials and structures-a field known as fluid-structure interaction -is central not only to established disciplines such as aerospace and naval engineering but also to emerging technologies such as energy harvesting, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. In recent years, the advent of metamaterials-rationally designed composites with properties beyond their constituents, often not found in conventional materials-has provided exciting opportunities for rethinking and redesigning fluid-structure interaction. The premise of engineering the internal structure of materials interfacing with fluid flows is opening a new horizon for precise and effective manipulation and control of coupled fluidic, acoustic, and elastodynamics responses. This review focuses on this relatively unexplored interdisciplinary theme with broad real-world technological significance. Key performance metrics, such as fuel consumption of transport systems, efficiency of renewable energy extraction, mitigation of noise emissions, and resilience to structural fatigue, depend on the control of interactions between flow, acoustic, and vibration mechanisms. Flow control, for example, which spans a wealth of regimes such as laminar, transitional, turbulent, and unsteady separated flows, is highly influenced by the ability to tailor fluid-structure interaction behavior. We survey and discuss theoretical frameworks that describe the interplay between fluids and elastic solids, with a focus on contemporary work and emerging concepts. The paper is organised into three main sections-flow-structure interactions, acoustic-structure interactions, and exotic metamaterial concepts with potential impact on fluid-structure interaction-and concludes with perspectives on current challenges and future directions in this rapidly expanding area of research.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2023

Phononic graded meta-MEMS for elastic wave amplification and filtering

Inspired by recent graded metamaterials designs, we create phononic arrays of micro-resonators for frequency signal amplification and wave filtering. Leveraging suspended waveguides on a thick silicon substrate, we hybridize surface Rayleigh and Lamb flexural waves to effectively achieve phononic signal control along predefined channels. The guided waves are then spatially controlled using a suitable grading of the micro-resonators, which provide high signal-to-noise ratio and simultaneously create phononic delay-lines. The proposed device can be used for sensing, wave filtering or energy harvesting.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Optimised graded metamaterials for mechanical energy confinement and amplification via reinforcement learning

A reinforcement learning approach to design optimised graded metamaterials for mechanical energy confinement and amplification is described. Through the proximal policy optimisation algorithm, the reinforcement agent is trained to optimally set the lengths and the spacing of an array of resonators. The design optimisation problem is formalised in a Markov decision problem by splitting the optimisation procedure into a discrete number of decisions. Being the physics of graded metamaterials governed by the spatial distribution of local resonances, the space of possible configurations is constrained by using a continuous function for the resonators arrangement. A preliminary analytical investigation has been performed to characterise the dispersive properties of the analysed system by treating it as a locally resonant system. The outcomes of the optimisation procedure confirms the results of previous investigations, highlighting both the validity of the proposed approach and the robustness of the systems of graded resonators when employed for mechanical energy confinement and amplification. The role of the resonator spacing is shown to be secondary with respect to the resonator lengths or, in other words, with respect to the oscillation frequencies of the resonators. However, it is also demonstrated that reducing the number of resonators can be advantageous. The outcomes related to the joint optimisation of the resonator lengths and spacing, thanks also to the adaptive control of the analysis duration, overcome significantly the performance of previously known systems by working almost uniquely on enlarging the time in which the harvester oscillations take place without amplifying these oscillations. The proposed procedure is suitable to be applied to a wide range of design optimisation problems in which the effect of the design choices can be assessed through numerical simulations.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Roton-like dispersion via polarisation change for elastic wave energy control in graded delay-lines

While roton dispersion relations had been restricted to correlated quantum systems at low temperature, recent works show the possibility of obtaining this unusual dispersion in acoustic and elastic metamaterials. Such phenomenon has been demonstrated in periodic structures by means of beyond-nearest-neighbor interactions, following the formulation firstly developed by Brillouin in the $'50s$. In this paper, we demonstrate both numerically and experimentally that beyond-nearest-neighbor connections are not a necessary condition to obtain this unusual dispersion relation in elasticity. Leveraging the intrinsic complexity of elastic systems supporting different types of waves, we demonstrate that mode locking can be applied to obtain roton dispersion, without the need of elastic or magnetic interactions between non nearest neighbors. Moreover, the combination of roton dispersion and rainbow physics enables spatial separation of the energy fluxes with positive and negative group velocity.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2022

Analytical solutions for Bloch waves in resonant phononic crystals: Deep subwavelength energy splitting and mode steering between topologically protected interfacial and edge states

We derive analytical solutions based on singular Green's functions, which enable efficient computations of scattering simulations or Floquet-Bloch dispersion relations for waves propagating through an elastic plate, whose surface is patterned by periodic arrays of elastic beams. Our methodology is versatile and allows us to solve a range of problems regarding arrangements of multiple beams per primitive cell, over Bragg to deep-subwavelength scales; we cross-verify against finite element numerical simulations to gain further confidence in our approach, which relies upon the hypothesis of Euler-Bernoulli beam theory considerably simplifying continuity conditions such that each beam can be replaced by point forces and moments applied to the neutral plane of the plate. The representations of Green's functions by Fourier series or Fourier transforms readily follows, yielding rapid and accurate analytical schemes. The accuracy and flexibility of our solutions are demonstrated by engineering topologically non-trivial states, from primitive cells with broken spatial symmetries, following the phononic analogue of the Quantum Valley Hall Effect (QVHE). Topologically protected states are produced and coexist along: interfaces between adjoining chiral-mirrored bulk media and edges between one such chiral bulk and the surrounding bare elastic plate, allowing topological circuits to be designed with robust waveguiding; these topologically non-trivial states exist within near flexural resonances of the constituent beams of the phononic crystal, and hence can be tuned into a deep-subwavelength regime.

physics.class-ph↗