Interaction of traveling waves with mass-with-mass defects within a Hertzian chain.

We study the dynamic response of a granular chain of particles with a resonant inclusion (i.e., a particle attached to a harmonic oscillator, or a mass-with-mass defect). We focus on the response of granular chains excited by an impulse, with no static precompression. We find that the presence of the harmonic oscillator can be used to tune the transmitted and reflected energy of a mechanical pulse by adjusting the ratio between the harmonic resonator mass and the bead mass. Furthermore, we find that this system has the capability of asymptotically trapping energy, a feature that is not present in granular chains containing other types of defects. Finally, we study the limits of low and high resonator mass, and the structure of the reflected and transmitted pulses.