Water-tank metabarrier for seismic Rayleigh wave attenuation

Area of Science:

• Metamaterials Science
• Seismic Engineering
• Acoustic Metamaterials

Background:

• Seismic Rayleigh waves pose significant risks to structures.
• Existing seismic metamaterials often lack tunability.
• Effective attenuation of ground vibrations is crucial for infrastructure resilience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and analyze a novel metabarrier concept for seismic Rayleigh wave attenuation.
• To investigate the tunability of the proposed system.
• To explore applications beyond seismic protection, including traffic vibration mitigation.

Main Methods:

• Development of a theoretical framework for fluid-structure interaction in cylindrical water tanks.
• Implementation of the model in COMSOL Multiphysics.
• Floquet-Bloch dispersion analysis and frequency-domain analysis of soil-metabarrier interaction.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of significant band gaps for seismic Rayleigh wave attenuation below 20 Hz and at higher frequencies.
• Validation of dispersion analysis through finite array simulations.
• Confirmation that water level adjustments allow for tunable wave attenuation frequencies and bandwidths.

Conclusions:

• The proposed water-tank metabarrier is an effective and tunable solution for seismic Rayleigh wave attenuation.
• The system's tunability offers a significant advantage over non-tunable seismic metamaterials.
• Potential applications include protection against earthquake-induced vibrations and mitigation of traffic-generated ground waves.