Acoustic Metamaterial for Simultaneous Noise Filteringand Energy Harvesting From Ambient Vibrations

Ambient mechanical vibrations produced by different sources, namely machinery and road traffic, are considered as a wide spread annoying source of noise. However, from another perspective these abundant vibrations can be seen as a potential source of energy. In this research, we will design an acoustoelastic metamaterial (AEMM) that acts as a noise barrier through taking advantage of local resonance mechanism in the AEMM unit cells, to filter ambient mechanical vibrations whose frequencies are below 500 Hz. This AEMM is also capable of harvesting these filtered frequencies through a piezoelectric transduction mechanism that will convert them into electrical power. In this paper, we will analytically and numerically validate this AEMM using finite element analysis tool (COMSOL Multiphysics).