Pope, S.A. orcid.org/0000-0001-8130-4222 and Wright, O.B. orcid.org/0000-0003-3035-0901 (2025) Meta-atom based two-sphere Newton's cradle. Physical Review E, 112 (3). 035506. ISSN: 2470-0045
Abstract
Locally resonant metamaterials are among the most studied types of elastic and acoustic metamaterials, with significant research focused on wave propagation in a periodic array of “meta-atoms.” Here we investigate the collision dynamics of two identical pendulum-suspended mass-in-mass resonators, essentially a two-sphere Newton's cradle, emphasizing the readily realizable scenario where the internal resonator frequency is much greater than the pendulum frequency. We first show that the dynamics of a collision can be described using effective parameters, similar to how previous metamaterials research has characterized wave propagation through effective material parameters. Nonconventional collision dynamics—observed in two colliding mass-in-mass systems where one is initially at rest—include behaviors such as the moving sphere rebounding as if from a fixed wall while the other remains essentially stationary, the spheres coupling and moving forward in near-unison, and the spheres recoiling in opposite directions. These responses can be achieved by tuning the effective parameters. We demonstrate that these parameters can take on values that differ significantly from those in a conventional Newton's cradle. Additionally, we investigate multiple collisions of the two spheres, revealing complex dynamics. This work paves the way for the development and study of new “collision-based metamaterial” structures.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2025 American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Keywords: | Physical Sciences; Classical Physics; Effective mass theory; Effective medium approach; First-principles calculations; Materials modeling |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/T028661/1 |
Date Deposited: | 07 Oct 2025 15:17 |
Last Modified: | 07 Oct 2025 15:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1103/2whk-jc4b |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232645 |