Trapping of Vibrational Energy in Crumpled Sheets

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of transverse elastic waves in crumpled media. We set up the wave equation for transverse waves on a generic curved, strained surface via a Langrangian formalism and use this to study the scaling behaviour of the dispersion curves near the ridges and on the flat facets. This analysis suggests that ridges act as barriers to wave propagation and that modes in a certain frequency regime could be trapped in the facets. A simulation study of the wave propagation qualitatively supported our analysis and showed interesting effects of the ridges on wave propagation.