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Surface waves in granular phononic crystals

The existence of surface elastic waves at a mechanically free surface of granular phononic crystals is studied. The granular phononic crystals are made of spherical particles distributed periodically on a simple cubic lattice. It is assumed that the particles are interacting by means of normal, shear and bending contact rigidities. First, Rayleigh-type surface acoustic waves, where the displacement of the particles takes place in the sagittal plane while the particles possess one rotational and two translational degrees of freedom, are analyzed. Second, shear-horizontal-type waves, where the displacement of the particles is normal to the sagittal plane while the particles possess one translational and two rotational degrees of freedom are studied. The existence of zero-group velocity surface acoustic waves of Rayleigh-type is theoretically predicted and interpreted. A comparison with surface waves predicted by the Cosserat theory is performed, and its limitations are established.