Twisting Kelvin Cells for Enhanced Vibration Control

This work investigates the propagation of elastic waves in periodic Kelvin-cell chains, focusing on symmetry-breaking geometric modifications induced by twisting the cell's faces. By imposing such twists, the original lattice topology is preserved, while mirror symmetries are strategically broken through modifying a single geometric parameter, allowing wave characteristics to be adjusted without additional resonators or mass augmentation. The complex-valued Bloch-Floquet analysis reveals that twisting activates two distinct wave attenuation mechanisms: Bragg-type band gaps associated with periodicity-induced scattering, and polarization-dependent band gaps arising from longitudinal-torsional mode coupling and avoided crossings. To obtain qualitative and quantitative insight into these mechanisms, a simplified analytical model with coupled translational and rotational degrees of freedom is considered. The finite-element wave transmission calculations are experimentally validated on SLA-printed three-cell specimens, for which wave attenuation reaches up to 20 dB within the predicted band-gap frequencies. Note that high prediction accuracy requires accounting for viscoelastic material behavior, underscoring the importance of material behavior on the wave propagation characteristics. Overall, the findings show that modest geometric modifications to a classical Kelvin-cell lattice can enhance wave-filtering behavior, offering a tractable design strategy for vibration control in lightweight architected lattices.