Adaptive Metacomposites for Vibroacoustic Control Applications

Research activities in smart materials and structures are very important today and represent a significant potential for technological innovation in mechanics and electronics. The growing interest of our society in the problem of sustainable development motivates a broad research effort for optimizing mechanical structures in order to obtain new functional properties such as noise reduction, comfort enhancement, durability, decreased ecologic impact, and so forth. In order to realize such a multiobjective design, new methods are now available, which allow active transducers and their driving electronics to be directly integrated into otherwise passive structures. This new concept could allow fine control of the material physical behavior to induce new functional properties that do not exist in nature and that cannot be introduced by passive approaches. In this sense, we can speak of integrated distributed adaptive metacomposites that merge with the notion of programmable material. Through two different examples dealing with active acoustical impedance and elastodynamical interface, this paper presents theoretical tools and validations for designing specific applications of this new technology.