Tuning the propagation characteristics of the trapped and released strongly nonlinear solitary waves in 1-D composite granular chain of spheres

After a chain composed of light particles is inserted into a one-dimensional heavy granular chain of spheres, the formed composite chain can trap strongly nonlinear solitary waves (SNSWs) in a light sectional chain The light sectional chain can reduce the peak amplitude of pulse waves imposed on the objects contacting with the end particle of the chain. However, the effects of the light sectional chain's properties on the propagation velocity and amplitude of both the trapped and output pulse waves are unclear. In this study, finite element models with optimal parameters were established to investigate the multireflection behaviors of the output pulse waves. Both the simulation and experimental results demonstrated that the light sectional chain could act as a physical regulator to tune the properties of the output pulse waves in the composite chain. When the material of the light particle was fixed, both the propagation velocity and amplitude of the output pulse waves exhibited the exponentially downward trend as the number of light particles increased. Compared to the light sectional chain of Brass, the PTFE chain could cause more serious attenuation on the amplitude of the pulse waves and reduce the propagation velocity of the output pulse waves Similar phenomena had been reported in simulation results only at the nanoscale. Even at the macroscale, the investigated composite chain could quantitatively tune the propagation characteristics of the trapped and output pulse waves by adjusting the material and number of light particles.