Engineered metabarrier as shield from seismic surface waves.

ABSTRACT: Resonant metamaterials have been proposed to reflect or redirect elastic waves at different length scales, ranging from thermal vibrations to seismic excitation. However, for seismic excitation, where energy is mostly carried by surface waves, energy reflection and redirection might lead to harming surrounding regions. Here, we propose a seismic metabarrier able to convert seismic Rayleigh waves into shear bulk waves that propagate away from the soil surface. The metabarrier is realized by burying sub-wavelength resonant structures under the soil surface. Each resonant structure consists of a cylindrical mass suspended by elastomeric springs within a concrete case and can be tuned to the resonance frequency of interest. The design allows controlling seismic waves with wavelengths from 10-t

SUBMITTER: Palermo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5172158 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature