Session: SYMP 7-1: Energy Harvesting with Metamaterials

Paper Number: 151257

151257 - Leveraging Metamaterials and Phononic Crystals In Energy Harvesting 

Metamaterials (MMs) and phononic crystals (PCs) offer unique opportunities to manipulate elastic and acoustic waves in unprecedented ways, stimulating the research for new avenues in energy harvesting. Following a brief account of some of our early work; first, gradient-index (GRIN) lens concepts are covered to demonstrate performance enhancement in energy harvesting from structure-borne flexural waves (the lowest anti-symmetric Lamb wave mode). GRIN PC lens-based enhanced energy harvesting is shown for unidirectional wave focusing, and then extended to the omnidirectional counterpart via Luneburg lens refractive index profile. More than an order of magnitude enhancement is observed in the harvested power in CNC-machined lens domains in aluminum plates. The harvested power enhancement is also shown via additive manufacturing-based counterpart in a composite domain involving a 3D-printed polyamide PC lens bonded to an aluminum plate. In the second part of the talk, GRIN PC lens design is extended to bulk pressure waves in fluids, namely for underwater ultrasonic wave focusing and audio-frequency sound wave focusing in air, leading to a substantial enhancement of the acoustic energy via focusing. For instance, audio-frequency acoustic wave harvesting with a simple piezoelectric element is enhanced by an order of magnitude in the presence of a 3D-printed polylactide-based 3D GRIN PC lens. The underwater counterpart is also shown for enhanced ultrasonic power transfer in a double-lens setting. In the third part of the talk, the focus is placed on resonant MM concepts, starting from the multifunctional implementation to combine locally resonant bandgap formation with harvesting energy from the resonators. Graded MMs involving gradual property variation are also discussed and shown to enhance the harvested power compared to uniform resonators case. Finally, a double-negative locally resonant approach is taken in a hybrid setting on a negative group velocity branch, demonstrating further opportunities to leverage in energy harvesting.

Presenting Author: Alper Erturk Georgia Institute of Technology

Presenting Author Biography: Alper Erturk is the Carl Ring Family Chair & Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He began at Georgia Tech in 2011 as an Assistant Professor, he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2016 (and was named Woodruff Faculty Fellow in 2017), then became a full Professor (and was named Woodruff Professor) in 2019, and most recently he was awarded his current chaired professorship in 2022. His theoretical and experimental research interests are in dynamics, vibration, and acoustics of passive and active structures for a broad range of engineering problems. His publication/presentation record includes more than 130 journal papers, 220 conference papers/abstracts, 5 book chapters, and 2 books (total citations > 20,000 and h-index: 64). He is a recipient of many awards including an NSF CAREER Award (in dynamical systems), ASME C.D. Mote Jr. Early Career Award (in vibration & acoustics), ASME Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award (in adaptive structures & material systems), SEM James Dally Young Investigator Award (in experimental mechanics), and numerous journal/conference best paper awards including the Philip E. Doak Award of the Journal of Sound and Vibration. He served as an Associate Editor for various journals and was recently named the Editor-in-Chief of Smart Materials & Structures. He holds Invited/Adjunct Professor positions at Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) and at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST). He is a Fellow of ASME and SPIE