Wave propagation in beams with periodic arrays of airfoil-shaped resonating units

• We study wave propagation in metamaterials coupled with a fluid flow.
• Aeroelastic resonating units control the bandgaps of the system.
• The attenuation regions are tuned by the speed of the incident fluid flow.
• We develop an effective-medium description at long wavelengths.

This paper presents an analytical and numerical study on the dispersion properties of an Euler–Bernoulli beam immersed in a steady fluid flow with periodic arrays of airfoil-shaped vibration absorbers attached to it. The resonance characteristics of the airfoils generate strong attenuation of flexural waves in the beam occurring at frequencies defined by the properties of the airfoils and the speed of the incident fluid. Analytical and numerical tools are developed to investigate the effects of the incident flow on the dispersion properties and the bandgaps of the system. Both steady and unsteady aerodynamic models are used to model the lift force and the pitching moment acting on the resonators and their effect on the dispersion relations of the system is evaluated. Finally, an effective medium description of the beam is developed to capture its behavior at long-wavelengths. In this regime, the system can be effectively considered as an acoustic metamaterial with adaptive dispersion properties.