A tunable planar acoustic waveguide based on non-uniform period thermal fields

Elastic wave metamaterials, such as phononic crystals (PnCs) always composed of several materials in terms of periodical structures, possess unique acoustic characteristic which can exhibit outstanding performance in forbidding wave propagation with some specific frequencies. In this paper, due to the thermal sensitivity of the thermally induced shape memory polymers (SMP) and period thermal fields, a tunable planar acoustic metamaterial which is constituent homogeneous is proposed and designed to realize the function of waveguides. A thin plate model composed of homogenous thermally induced SMP and adhered with a series of metallic films at the top boundary which plays the role of local heating sources is established. The homogenous plate can be transferred into acoustic metamaterial once the non-uniform period thermal fields are imported. Based on the Fourier law of heat conduction and finite element method (FEM), a two-dimensional numerical model via COMSOL Multiphysics is carried out to perform the in-plane mode band structures and transmission spectra. The results show that the bandgap will be effectively opened and change obviously as the injected heat flux increases. Furthermore, band structures of 7×1 supercell with thermal defect are performed to reveal the design guideline of waveguides which is supposed to be the basis of line-type and L-type waveguides. The tunable characteristics of waveguides based on thermal fields with thermal defects are also discussed. These results may pave a new avenue for the design of tunable acoustic metamaterial composed of thermal sensitive material which own a prospect to be applied in area of acoustic waveguides.