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Ultrasonic propagation in finite-length granular chains
D A Hutchins1, J Yang1, O Akanji1
1School of Engineering, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, UK.
Abstract:
A narrowband ultrasound source has been used to generate solitary wave impulses in finite-length chains of spheres. Once the input signal is of sufficient amplitude, both harmonics and sub-harmonics of the input frequency can be generated as non-linear normal modes of the system, allowing a train of impulses to be established from a sinusoidal input. The characteristics of the response have been studied as a function of the physical properties of the chain, the input waveform and the level of static pre-compression. The results agree with the predictions of a theoretical model, based on a set of discrete dynamic equations for the spheres for finite-length chains. Impulses are only created for very small pre-compression forces of the order of 0.01N, where strongly non-linear behaviour is expected.
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