Propagation of mechanical waves in a one-dimensional nonlinear disordered lattice

The propagation of transverse waves along a string loaded by masses, each of them being fixed to a spring with a quadratic nonlinearity, is studied. After presenting the nonlinear model and stating the equation of propagation into a lattice with discrete nonlinearities and disorder, we propose a perturbation approach to wave propagation in a nonlinear lattice using the Green's function formalism. We show how the nonlinearity acts on the propagation into a disordered lattice. In the low-frequency approximation, an analytical expression of the boundary between the propagative regime and the evanescent one is found. Numerical results are compared to the analytical results and phase diagrams are proposed in the ordered and disordered cases. A behavior of the transmission coefficient is found, on an empirical basis, as a function of the length of the lattice and the localization length in the nonlinear case. Finally, a dynamic approach is developed and the ordered and disordered cases are addressed. This method is based on a finite difference equation and allows the construction of the Poincaré section describing the propagation of the wave into the lattice. This approach distinguishes between the properties of propagation in the lattice in a propagative regime and in an evanescent one.