Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Vibration attenuation properties of periodic rubber concrete panels

Zhibao Cheng, Zhifei Shi ⇑
School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Periodic rubber concrete panels can produce attenuation zones below 20 Hz.
 Directional attenuation zones can be designed in Bragg-scattering panels.
 Vibration can be reduced significantly by using only three periodic units.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, attenuation zones of two-dimensional periodic rubber concrete panels are investigated.
Received 29 April 2013 Both the Bragg-scattering periodic panels and the Local-resonant periodic panels are studied. It is found
Received in revised form 19 September 2013 that complete attenuation zones in the low frequency region can be obtained in the considered panels by
Accepted 24 September 2013
proper design. Further, parameter studies show that non-symmetric periodic panels with directional
Available online 17 October 2013
attenuation zones are much suitable for engineering applications. Numerical simulation shows that
vibration attenuation is possible if the frequency of an excitation falls within the attenuation zones.
Keywords:
The present investigation also shows that vibration can be reduced significantly by using a periodic struc-
Periodic structure
Directional attenuation zones
ture with only three units. The results of the study provide valuable information for a better understand-
Vibration attenuation ing of dynamic properties of periodic rubber concrete panels.
Rubber concrete Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction lighter but had higher sound absorption and lower heat transfer
properties than the conventional concrete. Ling experimentally
Concrete has served as a construction material in civil engineer- investigated the influence of rubber content within the range of
ing field for more than two millennia. Numerous efforts have been 5–50% on the density and compressive strength and proposed
devoted to improve the performance of concrete since the ancient the linear and logarithm equations to predict these two parameters
roman period. With the needs of sustainable development for hu- of rubberized concrete blocks [7]. In addition, Ling also studied the
man being and some special requirements for construction materi- effects of compaction method on the properties of concrete paving
als, rubberized concrete has become an emerging research topic in blocks [8].
recent years and a lot of achievements have been obtained. Zheng Different from above works, this study does not focus on the
 nas et al. [3,4] experimentally studied the
et al. [1,2] and Skripkiu use of waste tires, but on the use of the periodic theory to rubber
damping ratio, dynamic and static modulus, strength and brittle- concrete composites. Investigations in the field of solid state
ness index of rubberized concrete. It was found that the crushed physics show that the phononic crystal (one kind of periodic
rubberized concrete had better damping properties but lower dy- material or periodic structure) can produce bands of frequency
namic and static modulus of elasticity than ground rubberized con- gaps. If the excitation frequencies fall within the frequency gaps,
crete [1,2], and the compressive and flexural strength of concrete the waves cannot propagate in, or through, the material. There-
decrease with increasing tires rubber waste additives [3,4]. Suk- fore, periodic materials may be designed with one or more band
ontasukkul and Chaikaew investigated the properties such as ther- of frequency gaps in order to block wave propagation or reduce
mal conductivity, strength, sound absorption of concrete mixed vibration, which has many potential applications, such as reduc-
with crumb rubber at different frequency and noise reduction ing engine noise, suppressing vibrations in civil structures, isolat-
[5,6], results indicated that crumb rubber concrete was not only ing seismic vibrations, and reducing traffic noise [9–11]. In the
following discussion, the term ‘‘band of frequency gap(s)’’ will
be replaced by the term ‘‘attenuation zone(s)’’, and the attention
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 51688367. is going to focus on the use of periodic theory to rubber concrete
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (Z. Shi). panels.

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.09.060
258 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265

In fact, the property of attenuation zone existing in periodic Table 1

materials has been used in civil engineering field. By using the idea Material component properties [16].

of the local resonant unit, Li and Chen developed a new concrete Material Young modulus E (Pa) Poisson ratio m Density q (kg/m3)
[12], incorporated the coated lead balls into a short fiber reinforced Rubber 1.37  10 5
0.463 1300
cementitious composite. Their experimental results showed that Concrete 3.00  1010 0.2 2500
the new concrete has much better sound proofing capability and
has good potential in engineering applications. Based on vibration
theory, Zhang and Li developed a new approach to calculate the
2.1. Governing equations
effective mass density for a composite modeled as consisting of a
hard spherical core, with a soft shell layer surrounding the core
Under the assumption of a continuous, isotropic, perfectly elas-
and embedded in a stiff host medium [13]. By the use of finite-dif-
tic and small deformation as well as without consideration of
ference schemes, Redondo et al. [14,15] evaluated the potential of
material damping, the governing equation for the in-plane waves
sonic crystals as sound diffusers, which showed that the perfor-
propagating in a two-dimensional inhomogeneous solid can be gi-
mance of sonic crystals as sound diffusers could be improved.
ven as:
Guided by the achievements in the field of solid-state physics 8 h i h  i
and the concept of band of frequency gaps, Shi and his co-workers > 2
< qðrÞ @@t2u ¼ @x
@
C 11 ðrÞ @u þ C 12 ðrÞ @@yv þ @y @
C 44 ðrÞ @u þ @@xv
@x @y
[16–19] proposed a new and innovative method for seismic base h  i h i: ð1Þ
isolation. Their works demonstrated that periodic foundations
>
: qðrÞ @ 2 2v ¼ @x
@
C 44 ðrÞ @u þ @@xv þ @y @
C 21 ðrÞ @u þ C 22 ðrÞ @@yv
@t @y @x
have a great potential in future applications for seismic isolation.
Though the periodic theory has been established in the solid- where (u, v) is the displacement vector, r = {x, y} the coordinate vec-
state-physics for many decades, it has been introduced into civil tor, C11, C12, C21, C22, C44 are the elastic parameters, q the density
engineering field only recently. Lots of attentions have been paid and t the time parameter.
to search possible application of periodic structures in civil engi- For simplicity, concrete and rubber can be taken as isotropic
neering structure at the present. Meanwhile some problems have material, whose elastic parameters are:
begun to emerge. Specially, the fundamental frequencies of most 2 Eð1v Þ vE 3
ð1þv Þð12v Þ ð1þv Þð12v Þ
0
engineering structures and the frequencies of the main compo- 6 7
Eð1v Þ
nents of external excisions in civil engineering are usually below C¼6 vE
4 ð1þv Þð12v Þ ð1þv Þð12v Þ
0 7
5 ð2Þ
50 Hz. For engineering application, periodic panels of small size 0 0 E
2ð1þv Þ
are much applicable. Therefore, periodic rubber-concrete panels
with limited size are always hoped to have low-frequency attenu- where E and v are the Young modulus and the Poisson ratios,
ation zones. To meet these requirements, this paper will give a respectively.
comprehensive study on the attenuation zones of two-directional
periodic rubber concrete panels. Attenuation zones of both the 2.2. Periodic boundary conditions
Bragg-scattering periodic panels and the Local-resonant periodic
panels are studied comparatively. The influences of geometrical According to the periodic theory, solutions of Eq. (1) can be ex-
parameters on the complete attenuation zone are particularly dis- pressed as:
cussed. In addition, the directional attenuation zones for periodic
panels with non-symmetric unit cells are investigated. Finally, uðr; tÞ ¼ eiðKrxtÞ uK ðrÞ ð3Þ
the dynamic responses of periodic structures with finite units to in which, K denotes the wave vector in the reciprocal space, x the
external excitations are investigated. angular frequency, and uK(r) the wave amplitude, which is a peri-
odic function:
2. Basic theory uK ðrÞ ¼ uK ðr þ AÞ ð4Þ
in which A is a constant vector.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, a periodic panel containing inner scatters
Due to periodicity, the dispersion relationships of an infinite
of any shape is considered. For two-component periodic panels, the
periodic structure can be investigated by using a typical periodic
inner scatters are made of concrete and the matrix is rubber; for
unit with periodic boundary conditions. Substituting Eq. (4) into
three-component periodic structure, both the matrix and the core
Eq. (3), periodic boundary conditions can be obtained as follow
are made of concrete and the coating is rubber. Material parame-
and shown in Fig. 2:
ters are given in Table 1. The periodic constant is assumed to be
A. In this section, the basic theory for waves propagating in infinite
periodic panels is presented.

(a) periodic panel (b) unit cell

Fig. 1. Illustration of a periodic panel and its unit cell.
Fig. 2. Periodic boundary conditions for two-dimensional periodic panels.
 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265 259

0.7
ky
Present Method PWE
Y 0.6
M

Normalized Frequency
L 0.5
kx

X 0.4

0.3

0.2
Fig. 3. The first Brillouin zone of the square unit cell containing an inner scatter of
any shape.
0.1

uðr þ A; tÞ ¼ eiKA uðr; tÞ ð5Þ

0
X M
Wave Vector
2.3. Dispersion relationship and attenuation zones
Fig. 4. Dispersion relationships obtained by the present method and the PWE
As using the periodic boundary conditions, the wave equations method.

will be transferred into an eigen-value equation, which is the so-

called dispersion equation:
dispersion curves of the infinite periodic panel with R = 0.4 m are
ðXðKÞ  x2 MÞU ¼ 0 ð6Þ shown in Fig. 5b. One can see that no wave vector can be found
in the region (10.03, 11.01) Hz, between the third and the fourth
where X and M are the stiffness matrix and mass matrix of the unit
dispersion curves. This means that waves with frequencies in this
cell, respectively; U is the displacement matrix of the unit cell.
region cannot propagate in the structure, regardless in which
The finite element method (COMSOL3.4) is applied to solve the
direction the waves come from. Fig. 6a shows the attenuation zone
eigen-value problem, given that the method is suitable for all kinds 2
changes with the filling ratio (f ¼ pAR2 ) when taking A = 1.0 m. It is
of geometry parameters. And, the mesh size is chosen according to
found that both the lower bound frequency (LBF) and upper bound
the shortest wavelength in the calculations [16]. The stiffness ma-
frequency (UBF) of the attenuation zone increase with the increase
trix X is a function of wave vector K. For a given wave vector K, the
of the filling ratio. Taking the filling ratio as a constant f = 0.50,
eigen-frequencies of the system can be found by a modal analysis.
Fig. 6b shows the attenuation zone changes with the periodic
Varying the wave vector along the boundary of the first Brillouin
parameter A. It is clear that both the LBF and the UBF of the atten-
zone (C-X-M-Y-C), the boundary of the quadrilateral shown in
uation zone decrease sharply with the increase of the periodic
Fig. 3, the dispersion curves can be obtained.
parameter.
The relationship between the eigen-frequency and the wave
Second, influence of the geometrical shape of the inner scatters
vector is the so-called dispersion relationship. In detail, the vertical
on the attenuation zone is analyzed. It is supposed that the cross
coordinate of the dispersion relationship can be divided into the
section of the inner scatters is a regular polygon with N sides. Peri-
pass bands and stop bands. In pass bands, there are eigen-frequen-
odic panels with different unit cells are listed in Table 2. Fig. 7
cies corresponding to wave vectors, and waves with frequencies
shows the bound frequencies of the attenuation zone versus the
in these regions can pass through periodic structures. In stop bands
number of the regular polygon as taking the periodic parameter
or attenuation zones, there is no eigen-frequency for any wave vec-
A = 1.0 m and f = 0.55. It is found that bound frequencies of the
tor, and waves with frequencies in these regions cannot propagate
attenuation zone change slightly as varying the shape of the inner
in the periodic structures.
scatters. For cases with N being an odd number (N = 5 and 7), the
attenuation zone of periodic panels is wider than those of cases
3. Attenuation zones of periodic panels with N being an even number (N = 4, 6, 8).
Attenuation zone shown in Fig. 5b is a frequency gap along the
First of all, to verify the method used in the present paper, the boundary of the first Brillouin zone, which means that waves or
dispersion structure of the two-component periodic structure con- vibrations with frequencies in this region cannot propagate in
sidered by Zhang et al. [20] is resolved. Fig. 4 shows the results ob- the periodic panels in all directions (0°, 360°). This type of attenu-
tained by the present numerical method and by the PWE method ation zone can be named as complete attenuation zone. However, it
[20] and good agreement is found. is also very important to search the frequency attenuation zone in
a certain direction, which is the so-called directional attenuation
3.1. Bragg-scattering periodic panels zone. In this case, a non-symmetric unit cell as shown in Fig. 8a will
be considered. The rectangle inner scatter is inserted into the cen-
In this part, periodic panels with concrete cylinders inserted ter of the rectangle matrix. The parameter d is taken as 0.1 m.
into the rubber matrix are considered. Physically speaking, due Fig. 8b shows the dispersion curves for the periodic panel with
to constructive interference of incident and reflected waves, atten- H = 0.3 m and L = 0.8 m. Different from the dispersion curves of
uation zones of this type of periodic panels are related to the Bragg periodic panels with symmetric unit cell like Fig. 5b, dispersion
resonance [21]. Therefore, this type of periodic panels can be curves for the non-symmetric unit cell are not symmetric about
named as Bragg-scattering periodic panels. the wave vector M. It seems that this kind of periodic materials
First, the unit cell with a circle scatter inserted into the center of does not have any attenuation zone and vibrations with any fre-
the square matrix as shown in Fig. 5a is considered. The radius of quency can propagate in the periodic panel. However, it is found
the scatter is R. Taking the periodic parameter A = 1.0 m, the that there is not dispersion curves between 12.07 Hz and
260 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265

20

15

Frequency (Hz)
10
R

A
5

0
Γ X M Y Γ
A
Wave Vector

(a) the periodic unit cell (b) the case with R=0.4m and A=1.0m
Fig. 5. Dispersion relationship for a Bragg-scattering periodic panel with concrete cylinder inserted into the rubber matrix.

18
25
LBF
UBF LBF
15 20 UBF
Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

15
12
10
9
5

6 0
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Filling ratio ( f ) Periodic parameter A(m)
(a) LBF and UBF versus the f as A=1.0m (b) LBF and UBF versus the A as f=0.50
Fig. 6. Influences of the geometrical parameters on the attenuation zone of Bragg-scattering periodic panels.

Table 2
Periodic panels with different inner scatter.

Bragg-scattering periodic panels

Local-resonant periodic panels

15.12 Hz along C ? X. This means that vibration with frequencies Bragg scattering [22]. Therefore, it can be termed as Local-resonant
in this region cannot propagate in this periodic panel along C ? X periodic panels.
direction, the so-called directional attenuation zone. Further, Fig. 9 As shown in Fig. 10a, a periodic unit cell with the coated cylin-
presents the relationship between the height of the inner scatter der inserted into the center of the square matrix is considered first.
and the directional attenuation zone. It is found that the bound fre- Fig. 10b presents the dispersion relationship for the case with
quencies of the directional attenuation zone are almost constants R = 0.35 m, d = 0.1 m and A = 1.0 m. An attenuation zone is opened
even the height of the inner scatter is reduced more than a half. between 7.22 Hz and 10.01 Hz. It is found that the lower bound
Compared to the periodic panels with symmetric unit cell, periodic frequency 7.22 Hz of the attenuation zone corresponds to the sec-
panels with non-symmetric unit cells are much more suitable for ond characteristic frequency of the inner oscillator with fixed
engineering structure to isolate the waves/vibrations propagating boundaries; while the upper bound frequency 10.16 Hz corre-
in certain direction. sponds to the fifth characteristic frequency of the inner oscillator
with free boundaries. This result indicates that the attenuation
3.2. Local-resonant periodic panels zone of Local-resonant periodic panels is intensively related to
the inner oscillators.
Different from the Bragg-scattering periodic materials, the spec- Influences of the geometrical parameters on the attenuation
tral gap of the three-components periodic panels arises from local zone are investigated. Here, the filling ratio parameter
vibration resonances of the coated core and has nothing to do with f0 = p(R + d)2/A2 is introduced. Taking the periodic constant A and
 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265 261

13 18
LBF
LBF
UBF
UBF 16

Frequency (Hz)
12 14
Frequency (Hz)

12

11
10

8
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
10 H (m)
4 5 6 7 8
Fig. 9. Influences of the height of the inner scatter (H) on the directional
N attenuation zone.

Fig. 7. The bound frequencies of the attenuation zone of Bragg-scattering periodic

panels versus the number of the regular polygon as taking A = 1.0 m and f = 0.55.
the dispersion curves of a periodic structure with inner oscillators
are studied. It is found that it is possible to find directional atten-
the thickness of the rubber coating d as 1.0 m and 0.1 m respec- uation zones for a certain kind of wave/vibrations [23]. Here, a de-
tively, the bound frequencies of the attenuation zone changing tailed investigation of the directional frequency attenuation zone
with the filling ratio are shown in Fig. 11a. With the increase of for different kinds of waves is presented and influences of the geo-
the filling ratio, the LBF decreases monotonously; however, the metrical parameter on the directional attenuation zone are
UBF decreases at first, and then increases after f0 = 0.5. Taking the considered.
filling ratio f0 = 0.5, influences of the thickness of the rubber coating To investigate the directional attenuation zone of Local-reso-
on the attenuation zone are presented in Fig. 11b. It is found that nant periodic panels, a unit cell with coated rectangle concrete cyl-
both the LBF and UBF decrease with the increase of the thickness inder inserted into the rectangle matrix is considered, as shown in
of the rubber coating. Fig. 13a. Fig. 13b shows the dispersion curves for the case with
Then, influences of the geometrical shape of the inner scatter on symmetric unit cell as taking ay = 0.7 m, by = 0.3 m, bx = 0.6 m and
the attenuation zone are studied by replacing the regular polygon, d = 0.1 m. It is found that the dispersion curves of waves with inner
as listed in Table 2. Fig. 12 shows the bound frequencies for differ- oscillators vibrating in the y direction are different with those with
ent cases as taking A = 1.0 m and f0 = 0.50. It is found that the bound inner oscillators vibrating in the x direction. Directional attenua-
frequencies of the attenuation zone are almost constants when tion zones for waves with inner oscillators vibrating in the x and
N > 5. y directions are obtained in the regions (14.74, 18.84) Hz and
As mentioned above, Bragg-scattering periodic panels with (19.81, 24.71) Hz, respectively. Additionally, it is found that disper-
directional frequency attenuation zones are much suitable for sion curves for waves with inner oscillators vibrating rotationally
engineering applications. It should be pointed out that directional do not change with the wave vector, which means that these
frequency attenuation zones of Bragg-scattering periodic panels modes are isolated modes. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 14, influ-
are the frequency region in which all kinds of waves/vibrations ences of the height of the unit cell on these directional attenuation
are forbidden. However, for Local-resonant periodic panels, it can zones are investigated as taking d = 0.1 m and bx = 0.6 m. With the
be seen that the dispersion curves are not sensitive to the wave decrease of the height ay, the bound frequencies of the directional
vector. It is difficult to obtain directional attenuation zones for all attenuation zone for waves with inner oscillators vibrating in the y
kinds of waves. Recently, based on the model analytical method, direction are increased and the width of the directional attenuation

30

1.0 m
20
Frequency (Hz)

L
d

10
H
d

0
Γ X M Y Γ
(a) the periodic unit cell Wave Vector
(b) the case with H=0.3m and L=0.8m
Fig. 8. Dispersion curves of the Bragg-scattering periodic panels with rectangle inner scatters inserted into the rectangle matrix.
262 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265

30

Frequency(Hz)
20

A
10
d

0
A M Y Γ X M
Wave Vector
(a) the periodic unit cell (b) the case with A=1.0m, R=0.35m and d=0.1m
Fig. 10. Dispersion curves of the Local-resonant periodic panels with coated concrete cylinder inserted into the concrete matrix.

24
40 LBF
LBF UBF
UBF
21
Frequency (Hz)
Frequency (Hz)

30
18

20
15

12 10
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
Filling ratio ( f ') d (m)
(a) the bound frequencies versus f’ as (b) the bound frequencies versus d as
A=1.0m and d=0.1m f’=0.5 and A=1.0m
Fig. 11. Influences of the geometrical parameters on the attenuation zone of Local-resonant periodic panels.

4. Periodic panels with finite units

24
LBF In the above section, both the complete attenuation zones and
UBF the directional attenuation zones of infinite periodic panels are
21 studied. However, all the panels used in practical engineering are
finite. For engineering applications, it is necessary to investigate
the dynamic properties of two-dimensional periodic panels with fi-
Frequency (Hz)

18 nite units.

15 4.1. Periodic panels with complete attenuation zones and finite

number of unit cells

12 Numerical simulations are conducted to study the dynamic

properties of periodic panels with complete attenuation zones
and finite number of unit cells. As shown in Fig. 15, both Bragg-
9 scattering panel and Local-resonant panel with symmetric units
4 5 6 7 8 are considered, in which unit cells with square scatters inserted
N into the center of the square matrix are considered. The size of
the unit cell is A = 1.0 m. For Bragg-scattering periodic panel, the
Fig. 12. The bound frequencies of the attenuation zone of Local-resonant periodic
side length of the square scatters is 0.8 m and a complete attenua-
panels versus the number of the regular polygon as taking A = 1.0 m and f0 = 0.50.
tion zone is between 12.35 Hz and 15.43 Hz; for Local-resonant
periodic panel, the square scatters are wrapped by rubber coating.
zone is reduced; for the directional attenuation zone for waves The thickness of rubber coating is 0.1 m and the side length of the
with inner oscillators vibrating in the x direction, the lower bound inner core is 0.7 m; a complete attenuation zone is found between
frequency is lowered and the width is decreased. 14.68 Hz and 20.56 Hz.
 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265 263

40 Rotational vibration
Vibration in the x direction
Vibration in the y direction

30

Frequency (Hz)
ax=1.0 m
bx (19.81, 24.71)
20 (14.74, 18.84)

d
by 10
ay

0
M Y Γ X M
(a) the periodic unit cell
Wave Vector
(b) the case with ay=1.0m,
bx=by=0.6m and d=0.1m
Fig. 13. Dispersion curves of the Local-resonant periodic panels with coated rectangle concrete cylinder inserted into the rectangle concrete matrix.

the two periodic panels. In detail, a harmonic displacement with

unit amplitude but different frequencies is added to every node
35 LBF (vibration in x direction) in the x direction on the left side of the panel. And, fixed boundary
UBF (vibration in x dreiciton) conditions are added on nodes on the left sides of the periodic pan-
LBF (vibraiton in y direction) els. The steady-state responses for every node are calculated by
30
UBF (vibration in y direction) using the commercial software ANSYS 10.0. The frequency re-
sponse function (FRF) is defined as:
Frequency (Hz)

25 FRF ¼ 20 lg di ð7Þ

where di is the amplitude of dynamic response in the x direction of

20 the nodes on the right side of the panel.
Fig. 16 shows the displacement FRFs on the right side of the two
panels changing with the exciting frequency. For Bragg-scattering
15 periodic panels, large attenuation can be found in the complete
attenuation zone. Around the bound frequencies of the attenuation
zones, the FRF curves become steeper with the increase of the
10 number of periodic units. Comparatively, for the Local-resonant
panels, displacement FRF curves have a very asymmetrical profile,
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
ay (m)
the so-call Fano profile [24]. Sharp attenuation is obtained in a
small region near the lower bound frequency of the attenuation
Fig. 14. Influences of the height of the unit cell (ay) on the directional attenuation zone. For both cases, attenuation ability of the finite periodic panel
zone with d = 0.1 m and bx = 0.6 m. becomes stronger with the increase of the number of unit cells.
Taking the periodic constant and the number of unit cells as
A = 1.0 m and N = 8, respectively, Fig. 17 shows the steady state dis-
Harmonic analysis is conducted to investigate the frequency re- placement response of the Local-resonant periodic panels along
sponse function of the two finite periodic panels. Due to symmetry the x direction. Amplitude of the displacement response is normal-
of the unit cell, excitations are only inputted in the x direction of ized by the amplitude of the input motion. It is found that the

y
y

o x o x
(a) Bragg-scattering periodic panel (b) Local-resonant periodic panel
Fig. 15. Illustration of periodic panels with symmetric but finite number of unit cells.
264 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265

40 N=4
10
N=6
20 N=8

0
0

FRF(dB)
FRF(dB)
-20 -10

-40 N=4
N=6 -20
N=8
-60

-80 -30
10 12 14 16 18 14 16 18 20 22 24
Frequency(Hz) Frequency(Hz)

(a) Bragg-scattering periodic panels (b) Local-resonant periodic panels

Fig. 16. Displacement FRFs of the finite periodic panels with symmetric unit cells.

2.0 4.2. Periodic panels with directional attenuation zones and finite
f =13.2Hz (out of attenuation zone) number of unit cells
f =14.8Hz (in attenuation zone)
In this part, the efficiency of directional attenuation zones for
both the Bragg-scattering periodic panels and Local-resonant peri-
1.5
odic panels are verified. Schematics of two non-symmetric periodic
Normalized amplitude

panels are shown in Fig. 18. For both cases, the size of the non-
symmetric unit cell is chosen as 1.0 m  0.5 m.
For the Bragg-scattering periodic panel, the side lengths of the
1.0 inner scatter in the x and the y directions arechosen as 0.8 m and
0.3 m, respectively. The directional frequency attenuation zone in
the C ? X direction is found between 12.07 Hz and 15.12 Hz.
Fig. 19a shows the displacement FRFs on the right side of the peri-
0.5 odic panel. In the directional attenuation zone, the displacement
FRFs for both the P wave and the shear wave are much lower than
0, which means that waves/vibrations in this directional cannot
propagate freely in the periodic panel. For the Local-resonant peri-
odic panels, the side lengths of the core cylinder in the longitudinal
0.0 and the vertical directions are chosen to be 0.7 m and 0.3 m,
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
respectively. The thickness of the coating rubber in the x and y
Number of unit cell
directions are 0.1 m and 0.05 m, respectively. The directional fre-
Fig. 17. Normalized steady-state displacement responses of the Local-resonant quency attenuation zone in the x direction is found between
periodic panels under displacement excitations with different frequencies. 14.93 Hz and 19.46 Hz; the directional frequency attenuation zone
in the y direction is found between 23.26 Hz and 27.86 Hz. The dis-
placement FRFs for P waves in the C ? X direction and C ? Y
direction are plotted in Fig. 19b. It is obvious that the attenuation
exciting motion can pass through the panels when the exciting
properties of the directional attenuation zones are verified.
frequency is in the pass band. However, the exciting motion is
located in the first several units and cannot pass through the
panels when the exciting frequency is in the attenuation zones. 5. Conclusions
When the exciting frequency falls within the attenuation zones,
the output amplitude is reduced obviously after passing through This paper presents an investigation on the attenuation zones
3–5 periodic units, which is of special significant for practical existing in periodic rubber concrete panels. Influences of the geo-
applications. metrical parameters on the attenuation zones of the panels with

y y

o x o x
(a) Bragg-scattering periodic panel (b) Local-resonant periodic panel
Fig. 18. Illustration of periodic panels with finite non-symmetric unit cells.
 Z. Cheng, Z. Shi / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 257–265 265

4
20
2
0
0

FRF (dB)

FRF (dB)
-20 -2

-4
-40
-6
-60
P wave in Γ -X direction -8 P wave in Γ− X direction
Shear wave in Γ -X direction P wave in Γ− Y direction
-80 -10
12 13 14 15 16 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
(a) Bragg-scattering periodic panel (b) Local-resonant periodic panel
Fig. 19. Displacement FRFs for the directional attenuation zones of periodic panels with finite non-symmetric unit cells.

both the Bragg-scattering case and the Local-resonant case are dis- [2] Zheng L, Huo XS, Yuan Y. Strength, modulus of elasticity, and brittleness index
of rubberized concrete. J Mater Civ Eng 2008;20:692–9.
cussed. Several conclusions can be drawn as follows:  nas G, Grinys A, Miškinis K. Damping properties of concrete with
[3] Skripkiu
rubber waste additives. Mater Sci (Medžiagotyra) 2009;15:266–72.
1. For both the Bragg-scattering and the Local-resonant panels, [4] Skripkiu nas G, Grinys A, Černius B. Deformation properties of concrete with
composited of concrete and rubber, attenuation zones can rubber waste additives. Mater Sci [Medžiagotyra] 2007;13:219–23.
[5] Sukontasukkul P, Chaikaew C. Properties of concrete pedestrian block mixed
be found in the low frequency region (below 20 Hz), which with crumb rubber. Constr Build Mater 2006;20:450–7.
is useful in mitigating vibrations. For Bragg-scattering pan- [6] Sukontasukkul P. Use of crumb rubber to improve thermal and sound
els, the attenuation zone is sensitive to the geometrical properties of pre-cast concrete panel. Constr Build Mater 2009;23:1084–92.
[7] Ling T-C. Prediction of density and compressive strength for rubberized
property of the inner scatter. However, for Local-resonant concrete blocks. Constr Build Mater 2011;25:4303–6.
panels, the lower bound frequencies of attenuation zones [8] Ling T-C. Effects of compaction method and rubber content on the properties of
are intensively related to the eigen-values the inner concrete paving blocks. Constr Build Mater 2012;28:164–75.
[9] Hussein MI. Dynamics of banded materials and structures: analysis, design and
oscillator. computation in multiple scales. Michigan (USA): University of Michigan; 2004.
2. Complete attenuation zone for periodic panels with sym- [10] Hussein MI, Hulbert GM, Scott RA. Dispersive elastodynamics of 1D banded
metric unit cells can forbid waves/vibration in all directions. materials and structures: analysis. J Sound Vib 2006;289:779–806.
[11] Xiang HJ, Shi ZF. Analysis of flexural vibration band gaps in periodic beams
However, directional attenuation zones for periodic panels using differential quadrature method. Comput Struct 2009;87:1559–66.
with non-symmetric unit cells are much suitable for [12] Li ZJ, Chen HS. The development trend of advanced building materials. The first
engineering applications. For Bragg-scattering panels, the international forum on advances in structural engineering: emerging
structural materials ANS systems. Beijing: China Architecture and Building
directional attenuation zones can be designed in certain
Press; 2006. p. 120–206.
direction; for Local-resonant panels, since the dispersion [13] Zhang B, Li ZJ. New analytical model for composite material containing local
curves are not sensitive to the wave vector, it is easy to resonance units. J Eng Mech 2011;137:1–7.
design panels with directional attenuation zones for certain [14] Redondo J, Pico R, Roig B, Avis MR. Time domain simulation of sound diffusers
using finite-difference schemes. Acta Acustica United with Acustica
waves/vibrations. 2007;93(4):611–22.
3. If the excitation frequencies fall within the attenuation [15] Redondo J, Sánchez-Morcillo V, Picó R. The potential for phononic sound
zones, vibrations can be blocked significantly by a periodic diffusers (PSD). Build Acoustics 2011;18:37–46.
[16] Jia G, Shi Z. A new seismic isolation system and its feasibility study.
panel with three or more units, resulting in efficient engi- Earthquake Eng Eng Vib 2010;9:75–82.
neering applications. The attenuation zones can be designed [17] Bao J, Shi Z, Xiang H. Dynamic responses of a structure with periodic
with a wider frequency region to isolate the harmful seismic foundations. J Eng Mech 2011;138:761–9.
[18] Xiang HJ, Shi Z, Wang SJ, Mo YL. Periodic materials-based vibration attenuation
wave, structure vibration and the boring room noise. in layered foundations: experimental validation. Smart Mater Struct
2012;21:112003.
[19] Shi Z, Huang J. Feasibility of reducing three-dimensional wave energy by
introducing periodic foundations. Soil Dyn Earthquake Eng 2013;50:204–12.
Acknowledgements [20] Zhang X, Liu Y, Wu F, Liu Z. Large two-dimensional band gaps in three-
component phononic crystals. Phys Lett A 2003;317:144–9.
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Founda- [21] Nayfeh AH. Sound waves in two-dimensional ducts with sinusoidal walls. J
Acoustical Soc America 1974;56:768–70.
tion of China (51178036) and the Fundamental Research Funds for
[22] Liu Z, Zhang X, Mao Y, Zhu YY, Yang Z, Chan CT, et al. Locally resonant sonic
the Central Universities (2013JBM010). materials. Science 2000;289:1734–6.
[23] Cheng ZB, Shi ZF, Mo YL, Xiang HJ. Locally resonant periodic structures with
References low-frequency band gaps. J Appl Phys 2013;114:033532.
[24] Fano U. Effects of configuration interaction on intensities and phase shifts.
Phys Rev 1961;124:1866–78.
[1] Zheng L, Sharon Huo X, Yuan Y. Experimental investigation on dynamic
properties of rubberized concrete. Constr Build Mater 2008;22:939–47.