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International audience; We theoretically study the dispersion properties of elastic waves in hexagonal and honeycomb monolayer granular membranes with either out-of-plane or in-plane particle motion. The particles interact predominantly via normal and transverse contact rigidities. When rotational degrees of freedom are taken into account, the bending and torsional rigidities of the intergrain contacts can control some of the phononic modes. The existence of zero-frequency modes, zero-group-velocity modes and their transformation into slow propagating phononic modes due to weak bending and torsional intergrain interactions are investigated. We also study the formation and manipulation of Dirac cones and multiple degenerated modes. This could motivate variety of potential applications in elastic waves control by manipulating the contact rigidities in granular phononic crystals.

International audience; We report here the theoretical description and analysis of edge elastic waves in a semi-infinite mechanical granular graphene structure. The granular graphene, composed of spherical beads arranged in a single-layer honeycomb structure, is studied for two types of edge configurations: zigzag and armchair. Due to the existence of the rotational degrees of freedom of the grains, rotation-associated shear, bending and torsional couplings between the neighbor beads are activated. The dispersion curves of the edge waves are theoretically derived and numerically analyzed for various configurations of bead couplings, as well as the existence of edge states when the torsional or/and bending rigidities are weak/vanishing. Quasi-flat edge mode dispersion curves with near zero frequency are observed for both the zigzag and armchair edges. These quasi-flat dispersion curves, supporting the propagation of waves with extremely slow group velocity, tend to be perfect zero-frequency modes for zero torsional rigidity or vanish for zero bending rigidity, indicating that weak bending and torsional interbead interactions are critical in the transformation of zero-frequency modes into extremely slow propagating modes. These results on edge waves in mechanical granular graphene structures with rotational degrees of freedom are the necessary preliminary step for the design of granular meta-graphenes with artificial symmetry breaking for inducing topologically protected unidirectional edge states.

This work is devoted to the analysis of propagating and surface acoustic waves in granular phononic crystals in thelinear regime. First, the propagation and localization of transversal-rotational waves in a two-dimensional granularchain of equal masses are analyzed. By considering the semi-infinite chain with a boundary condition applied at itsbeginning, the analytical study demonstrates the existence of localized modes, each mode composed of two evanescentmodes. Secondly, the phononic properties of a two-dimensional discrete phononic crystal, made of circular cross-section, infinitely long contacting elastic cylinders arranged on a simple cubic lattice, are described analytically. The theoretical analysis provides a clear physical explanation for the existence of a zero-group velocity point of the lowest-energy acoustic mode in particular directions of the phononic crystal and demonstrates the birefraction phenomenon. Finally, the existence of surfaces elastic waves at mechanically free surface of granular phononic crystals is presented. Depending on the degrees of freedom of the particles, different types of surface waves exist in the structure. First, Rayleigh type surface waves aredemonstrated in a granular phononic crystal with particles possessing two translational and one rotational degrees offreedom; and secondly, shear-horizontal surface waves are studied in a granular phononic crystal with particlespossessing two rotational and one translational degrees of freedom. A comparison with surface waves predicted by theCosserat theories is made in order to establish the limitations of the Cosserat theories., Ce travail de thèse porte sur l’étude de la propagation d’ondes de volume et d’ondes de surface dans des cristauxphononiques granulaires en régime linéaire. Différents aspects sont développés dans ce manuscrit. L’effet de la prise encompte des degrés de liberté en rotation des particules sur la structure de bande de différents cristaux phononiquesgranulaires est étudié. En effet, l’introduction de ces degrés de liberté additionnels rend possible l’existence de modes derotation qui interagissent fortement avec les modes transverses. Ce travail s’intéresse aussi à l’existence d’ondeslocalisées et d’ondes de surface dans des cristaux phononiques granulaires et en particulier à la comparaison des théoriesdéveloppées avec les prédictions de la théorie de Cosserat. Dans un premier temps, l’étude d’une chaîne phononique granulaire monoatomique est présentée. En considérant lachaîne semi-infinie avec une condition aux limites appliquée à son extrémité, le modèle analytique démontre l’existence demodes localisés, chaque mode étant composé de deux modes évanescents. Ensuite, une description théorique des modes se propageant dans un cristal phononique granulaire en deux dimensions est présentée. Les particules possèdent trois degrés de liberté, deux en translation et un en rotation. L’analyse des interactions entre ondes de translation et ondes de rotation permet de mettre en évidence une grande richesse de structure de bandes ainsi que des phénomènes particuliers (bandes interdites complètes, cône de Dirac, modes non-monotones, phénomène de double réfraction). Dans un dernier temps, une analyse de l’existence d’ondes de Rayleigh et de cisaillement horizontal dans un cristal phononique granulaire en trois dimensions est effectuée. Les limites de la théorie de Cosserat dans la description d’ondes acoustiques de surface dans les milieux micro- et nano-inhomogènes sont établies.

International audience; A periodic ordered structure of monodisperse spherical beads forms a granular phononic crystal. The granular crystals combine in their dynamic behavior the effects of the geometrical periodicity (phononic effects), the rotational degrees of freedom (rotational inertia) and nonlinearities. We report the experimental observation of the asymmetry introduced by the gravity in the nonlinear transformation of acoustic waves in granular assemblages. Because of the gravity, the contact pre­-compression increases with depth inducing variations with depth of not only the linear and nonlinear elastic moduli but also of the linear and nonlinear dissipation of the acoustic waves. We show experimentally and explain theoretically that the amplitude of the self­demodulated wave (i.e., the amplitude of the wave emitted by a parametric antenna through a frequency­mixing down­ conversion process) depends in the granular media on whether the propagation of the pump waves is in the direction of the gravity or in the opposite direction. The measurements of the gravity­induced asymmetry in the nonlinear acoustic phenomena allow to compare the in­depth distributions of the contact nonlinearity and of acoustic absorption. This work is supported by project "STABINGRAM" ANR­2010­BLAN­0927­03.

A periodic, ordered and noncohesive structure of monodisperse spherical beads forms a granular phononic crystal. This work is devoted to the propagation of an acoustic wave within this kind of structure. During the propagation of an acoustic wave through a granular crystal, the properties of the phononic crystals (dispersion due to the geometrical periodicity) are combined with the properties of wave propagation in granular media (nonlinearities, rotational degrees of freedom). In this thesis, the dispersion relation of the bulk modes propagating in a hexagonal close-packed structure are theoretically derived. The structure is modeled by a mass-spring structure. The contact interactions between two beads (considered as rigid masses) are modeled by two springs obeying the Hertz-Mindlin theory, with one stiffness for the normal interactions and one for the transverse interactions. In the first part, the spectrum of bulk modes is determined in the case where the transverse interactions are neglected. The dispersion relations of the translational modes propagating within the crystals are derived. In the second part, the transverses rigidities are taken into account. The existence of the transverse interaction associated with the nonzero distance between the centers of the beads and the contact points requires to take into account the rotational degrees of freedom of each individual bead. In the description of continuum elastic media, the rotational degres of freedom are included in the generalized theory of elasticity which is also known as the Cosserat or micropolar theory. Experimental observations in granular materials of the modes predicted by the Cosserat theory (rotational modes and coupled rotational-translational modes) have not been reported before. After the theoretical investigations in a peculiar direction of propagation, the experimental observation of coupled rotational-translational modes in this direction is reported, and constitute a convincing evidence of the phenomena predicted by the Cosserat theory for the granular media. Finally, in this work, we also demonstrated the asymmetry of the classical nonlinear acoustic effect of self-demodulation relative to the direction of the acoustic wave propagation in noncohesive granular crystal under gravity., Une structure ordonnée, périodique et non cohésive de billes sphériques monodisperses forme un cristal phononique granulaire. L'objet de ce travail de thèse porte sur la propagation d'une onde acoustique à l'intérieur de ce type de structure. Lors de la propagation d'une onde acoustique à travers un cristal granulaire, les propriétés des cristaux phononiques (dispersion due à la périodicité géométrique) sont combinées avec les propriétés de propagation dans les milieux granulaires (non-linéarités, degrés de liberté de rotation). Dans ce travail de thèse, les relations de dispersion des modes de volumes se propageant dans une structure granulaire hexagonale compacte sont déterminées théoriquement. La structure est modélisée par une structure masses- ressorts. Deux ressorts modélisent les interactions au niveau du contact entre deux billes, alors considérées comme des masses rigides, suivant la théorie de Hertz-Mindlin, avec un ressort pour les interactions normales et un ressort pour les interactions transverses. Dans un premier temps, le spectre des modes de volume est déterminé dans le cas où les interactions transverses sont négligées, les relations de dispersion des modes de translation se propageant dans le cristal sont obtenues. Dans un deuxième temps, les rigidités transverses sont prises en compte. L'existence de l'interaction transverse ainsi que la distance non nulle séparant les contacts des centres de billes nécéssitent la prise en compte des degrés de liberté de rotation de chaque bille. La modélisation de la structure s'inscrit alors dans le cadre d'une théorie généralisée de l'élasticité appelée théorie de Cosserat ou théorie micropolaire. Ceci conduit à la prédiction de modes de translation, de modes de rotation et de modes couplés de rotation-translation. Les modes induits par la théorie de Cosserat (modes de rotation et modes couplés translation-rotation) n'ont auparavant pas été observés expérimentalement dans les milieux granulaires. Après l'étude théorique de la propagation des ondes dans une direction particulère, l'observation expérimentale de modes couplés rotation-translation dans cette direction dans un cristal phononique granulaire est reportée, validant ainsi les effets de la théorie de Cosserat dans les milieux granulaires. Finalement, la non-réciprocité de l'effet non linéaire classique d'auto-démodulation par rapport à la direction de propagation de l'onde acoustique dans un cristal granulaire soumis à la gravité est démontrée.