Existence of complete band gaps in 2D steel-water phononic crystal with square lattice

This paper theoretically and experimentally studies the existence of complete band gaps in two-dimensional (2D) phononic crystal consisting of parallel steel rods in water with square lattice. The band structure of phononic crystal is calculated by a plane wave expansion (PWE) method. Based on the well-known ultrasonic immersion transmission technique, the overlapping transmission spectra of acoustic waves, a complete band gap, is experimentally measured along the two high-symmetry directions of the first irreducible Brillouin zone. There is a very good agreement between the experimental result and the range of frequencies of the complete band gap. © 2010 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.