Abstract

Even though the introduction of periodic structures was mostly motivated by structural strength and weight requirements, recent studies have shown how the periodicity and/or nonlinearity can be exploited to attenuate, isolate and localize vibrations. Thus, design of periodic structures permits to develop smart systems dedicated to vibration and acoustic passive and active control, sensing applications, improvement of the vibroacoustic performances and the enhancement of energy transport. In this talk, I will try to show how my research activities contributed in the development and validation of methodologies and tools for the design of smart structures based on the functionalization of nonlinearity and/or periodicity or quasi-periodicity. Several concepts have been proposed and exploited in order to enhance the performances of resonant MEMS and NEMS sensors, Vibration Energy Harvesters (VEHs) and Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs).