Wave propagation in lattices and microstructures

Expertise within wave propagation in lattices and microstructures

MEMARC's work within this key area of research concentrates on invisibility, focusing and shielding.

Although considerable research has been conducted in relation to electromagnetic waves during the last 10 years, a great deal of research has not been conducted into elastic waves.

However, MEMARC’s applied mathematicians have been working with the University of Liverpool, producing theoretical models that use structured shields to hide objects from elastic waves. This process essentially ‘cloak’ the objects. Cloaking is important because it has the potential to render buildings ‘invisible’ to the elastic surface waves earthquakes produce.

Cloaking has been shown to be a practical possibility by the use of advanced materials known as metamaterials. Metamaterials consist of conventional materials with an in-built microstructure, adding geometry to the material. This combination of material and geometry is very powerful and can result in counter-intuitive behavior. For example, materials which contract when heated or which have negative refractive index, can bend waves in ways that were previously thought impossible.

The science of invisibility is a novel area of research, which is less than 20 years old, and potentially there are many other potential applications in mechanics, acoustics and optics too.

In addition to this research, MEMARC’s researchers have been building mathematical models of lattice materials and have achieved novel phenomena, such as flat lens focusing and cloaking in the area of elastic and acoustic waves.

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Contact details

Contact the fracture and contact mechanics specialists 

If you’d like to ask a question or find out more about information about this specialist area, please contact the team using the details below.

Director: Professor James Ren

Email: x.j.ren@ljmu.ac.uk

Call: 0151 231 2525

Co-Director: Professor Dingli Yu

Email: d.yu@ljmu.ac.uk

Call: 0151 231 2360

Address:
School of Engineering
Liverpool John Moores University
James Parsons Building
Byrom Street
Liverpool
UK
L3 3AF