title: Experimental evidence of shock mitigation in a Hertzian tapered chain.
abstract: We present an experimental study of the mechanical impulse propagation through a horizontal alignment of elastic spheres of progressively decreasing diameter phi(n): namely, a tapered chain. Experimentally, the diameters of spheres which interact via the Hertz potential are selected to keep as close as possible to an exponential decrease, phi(n+1) = (1-q)phi(n), where the experimental tapering factor is either q(1) approximately equal to 5.60% or q(2) approximately equal to 8.27%. In agreement with recent numerical results, an impulse initiated in a monodisperse chain (a chain of identical beads) propagates without shape changes and progressively transfers its energy and momentum to a propagating tail when it further travels in a tapered chain. As a result, the front pulse of this wave decreases in amplitude and accelerates. Both effects are satisfactorily described by the hard-sphere approximation, and basically, the shock mitigation is due to partial transmissions, from one bead to the next, of momentum and energy of the front pulse. In addition when small dissipation is included, better agreement with experiments is found. A close analysis of the loading part of the experimental pulses demonstrates that the front wave adopts a self-similar solution as it propagates in the tapered chain. Finally, our results corroborate the capability of these chains to thermalize propagating impulses and thereby act as shock absorbing devices.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and Center for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research in Materials (CIMAT), Avenida Ecuador 3493, Casilla 307, Correo 2, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Job
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santibanez
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tapia