Study on Vibration Band Gap Characteristics of a Branched Shape Periodic Structure Using the GDQR

In this study, a new periodic structure with special vibration band gap properties is introduced. This structure consists of a main beam and several cantilever beam elements connected to this main beam in the branched shape. Two models with different number of beam elements and geometrical parameters are considered for this periodic structure. The transverse vibrations of beams are solved using the generalized differential quadrature rule (GDQR) method to calculate the first four band gaps of each model. Investigating the influences of geometrical parameters on the band gaps shows that some bands are close to each other for specific ranges of geometrical parameters values. Furthermore, as the number of beam elements increases, the number of close band gaps increases. Having more than two close band gaps means that this periodic structure has a relatively wide band gap in total. Furthermore, this wide band can move to low frequency ranges by changing the geometrical parameters. Absorbing vibrations over a wide band gap at low frequency ranges makes this periodic structure a good vibration absorber. Verification of the analytical method using ANSYS software shows that the GDQR method can be used for vibration analysis of beam-like structures with high accuracy.