Enhanced high-frequency continualization scheme for inertial beam-lattice metamaterials

A multifield continualization technique is introduced that offers a thermodynamically consistent description of the constitutive and dispersive properties of beam-lattice inertial metamaterials with periodic microstructures. The balance equations governing the mechanics of the discrete Lagrangian system are appropriately handled using an innovative continualization scheme to derive an equivalent integral-type continuum model. Based on formal Taylor series expansion of the integral kernels or the corresponding pseudo-differential functions incorporating shift operators and appropriate pseudo-differential downscaling laws, the proposed multifield enhanced continualization scheme allows the derivation of a gradient-type continuum model of given rank and equivalent to lattices. Two different resolution techniques are proposed. Firstly, the corresponding infinite-order average differential equations are tackled using a perturbative approach to describe the forced Bloch wave propagation in the metamaterial. Secondly, higher-order continuum models are employed through proper differential equation truncation to characterize the dispersive properties of the metamaterial in both high- and low-frequency regimes. Moreover, an energetically consistent generalized equivalent Micropolar continua, with non-local inertial terms, are here identified. The multifield continualization procedure is applied to two-dimensional periodic microstructures with tetrachiral, hexachiral, and hexa-tetrachiral topologies. Illustrative examples highlight the ability of the equivalent continuum model to accurately describe the effective constitutive properties of inertial metamaterials with periodic microstructures and to define a dynamic response consistent with the discrete Lagrangian model, validated and tested through virtual experimental verification under free and forced wave conditions.