Applicability of Dynamic Homogenization for Acoustic Metamaterials

Dynamic homogenization seeks to define frequency dependent effective properties for heterogeneous composites for the purpose of studying wave propagation in them. These properties can be used to predict and design for metamaterial behavior. However, there is an approximation involved in replacing a heterogeneous composite with its homogenized equivalent. In this paper we propose a quantification to this approximation. By way of explicit examples we show that a comprehensive homogenization scheme proposed in earlier papers is applicable in a finite composite setting and in the low frequency regime. We also show that there exist good arguments for considering the second branch of a locally resonant composite a true negative branch. Furthermore, we note that infinite-domain homogenization is more applicable to finite cases of locally resonant metamaterial composites than it is to 2-phase composites. We also study the effect of the interface location on the applicability of homogenization. The results open intriguing questions regarding the effects of replacing a semi-infinite periodic composite with its Bloch-wave (infinite domain) dynamic properties on such phenomenon as negative refraction.