On the nonlinear dynamics of tensegrity structures

Gerardo Carpentieri1, Fernando Fraternali1,Chiara Daraio2, Robert E. Skelton3

1

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084, Fisciano (SA), Italy,
f.fraternali@unisa.it (F. Fraternali), gcarpentieri@unisa.it (G. Carpentieri)
2
Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zrich, Tannenstrasse 3, 8092 Zuerich, Switzerland,
daraio@ethz.ch
3
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La
Jolla, CA 92093-0411, USA, bobskelton@ucsd.edu

Abstract
Engineered foams, cellular solids, granular materials and other metamaterials have garnered much recent attention
in relation to the study of their unique properties, which are not typically found in nature. It has been shown that such
structures support vibrational band gaps in the linear dynamic regime (high precompression), and energy transport
through solitary waves.
The present work deals with a novel application of tensegrity structures as tunable acoustic metamaterials. We show
that such structures support a special type of solitary wave, whose profile depends on the wave speed and localizes on a
single lattice spacing in the super-sonic regime. This special feature of tensegrity structures suggests the use of
tensegrity crystals as actuators capable of focusing pressure waves in very compact regions in space [1, 2]. We discuss
different engineering applications of tensegrity metamaterials, dealing with the control of the acoustic energy, shock and
energy absorbing layers, actuating devices, acoustic lenses, and noise control devices.

Figure 1. Illustration of different tensegrity materials and systems.

References
[1] Fraternali, F., Senatore, L., Daraio, C., 2010, Solitary waves on tensegrity lattices, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, vol. 60,
pp. 1137-1144.
[2] Skelton, R.E., de Oliveira M.C., 2010, Tensegrity Systems, Springer.