Tunable asymmetric transmission of Lamb waves in piezoelectric bimorph plates by electric boundary design

The multi-mode and dispersion natures of elastic guided waves bring big challenges for wave manipulation, and also provide more possibilities for smart device design. In this study, a piezoelectric bimorph plate connected to a periodic arrangement of electric circuits is proposed, and both propagating and evanescent guided Lamb waves are investigated through the complex band structure resulting form using different shunting capacitor or inductor distributions. Results show that keeping and breaking the symmetry of the electric boundary condition can, respectively, lead to decoupling or hybridizing of multi-mode Lamb waves. Accordingly, the asymmetric transmission at a desired frequency can be realized by combining the symmetric and asymmetric electric boundary conditions. Harmonic analysis shows that numerical results are in good agreement with the prediction of complex band structure. Actively changing the electric boundary conditions can be used for guided wave propagation in piezoelectric bimorph plates to easily control the system without changing the structure's geometry. The framework presented herein offers enhanced capabilities for controlling guided wave propagation for engineering applications and to develop nondestructive testing techniques.