ISMER: A Novel Frequency Attenuated Mechanical Metamaterial for High-Magnitude Earthquake Dampening at a Cost-Effective Approach

Materials with special geometrically designed microstructures, referred to as metamaterials, have gained significant attention in the world due to their unique properties of toughness and failure-resistance. The ability to simply alter the internal geometry of almost any material to exponentially increase strength is incredibly enticing due to the feasibility and possibilities of billions of designs that can change the entire scope of how a material behaves. However, mechanical metamaterials have yet to be majorly implemented at a large scale to solve our crucial problems. A major problem the world faces today is producing stronger construction materials to prevent events such as Earthquake collapses, while still maintaining scalability and cost-effectiveness for earthquake prone regions such as Syria and Turkey. This is where ISMER (Internal Structural Modification for Earthquake Resistance), a novel metamaterial design, finds its place in the world of lost-cost earthquake resistance. Convergent Finite Element Analysis methods were used to design and simulate the behavior of a special class of mechanical metamaterials under randomized-seismic loading and 3D printing techniques to fabricate the physical specimens. Afterwards, scaled models and nanoscale mechanics were explored with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), ISMER was improved in terms of magnitude resistance. Within the methods of this study, 8 modular varieties, 2 to 16 units, are considered, as the structure transitions from an hourglass to honeycomb structure as distance increases, with 8 units being a perfectly vertical support and the control. These designs and measurements are proportional to the specimen itself, so ISMER can be implemented into any Newtonian solid. The study resulted in a rich understanding of how to manipulate any material’s strength by manipulating the microscale, in which a mathematical model was postulated, and prototype models were fabricated and tested. It was found that the 16 units case (honeycomb) was the most optimal for a variety of tests such as Frequency Attenuation and Richter Scale Simulations and has major potential to be feasibly implemented into manufacturing of housing materials as it showcased resistance to earthquakes of magnitude 6.