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Spider-Web Inspired Mechanical Metamaterials

Spider silk is a remarkable example of bio-material with superior mechanical characteristics. Its multilevel structural organization of dragline and viscid silk leads to unusual and tunable properties, extensively studied from a quasi-static point of view. In this study, inspired by the Nephila spider orb web architecture, we propose a novel design for mechanical metamaterials based on its periodic repetition. We demonstrate that spider-web metamaterial structure plays an important role in the dynamic response and wave attenuation mechanisms. The capability of the resulting structure to inhibit elastic wave propagation in sub-wavelength frequency ranges is assessed and parametric studies are performed to derive optimal configurations and constituent mechanical properties. The results show promise for the design of innovative lightweight structures for tunable vibration damping and impact protection, or the protection of large scale infrastructure such as suspended bridges.