Programmable stopbands and supratransmission effects in a stacked Miura-origami metastructure

Origami-based mechanical metamaterials and metastructure have been demonstrated to exhibit unique properties originating from their intricate geometries of folding. This research aims to extend the current investigation level from quasistatics to dynamics. In detail, this research focuses on the wave dynamics of a metastructure composed of stacked Miura-origami (SMO) units. The SMO unit could possess two stable configurations, endowing the metastructure with rich possibilities in the layout of its periodic repeating cell. Through linear dispersion analyses and numerical studies, we show that the long-desired stopband tunability and programmability of the metastructure along the three principal directions can be acquired by strategically programming the layout of the periodic cell. Based upon that, we further discover that energy supratransmission through the metastructure is possible within the stopband by increasing the driving amplitude. Through numerical means, the amplitude threshold of supratransmission is obtained. We demonstrate that the fundamental mechanism that triggers the supratransmission phenomenon is the transition of the responses from the low-energy intrawell oscillations to the high-energy interwell oscillations. Numerical studies also indicate that the supratransmission threshold can be effectively tailored by adjusting the periodic cell layout. The results of this research provide a wealth of fundamental insights into the origami wave dynamics and offer useful guidelines for developing origami metastructures with tunable and programmable dynamic characteristics.