CAREER: Quantum-Inspired Dynamic Control in Composite Metastructures with Long-Range Coupling

About This Grant

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award will support research to create innovative strategies for controlling vibrations in critical structures such as bridges, buildings, and aircraft, where uncontrolled vibrations can lead to severe damage, safety risks, and economic losses. Current approaches often fail to detect and manage these vibrations in time. This project will establish a novel system capable of both localizing vibrations to prevent their spread and measuring their intensity with high precision, enabling timely intervention. The system will use layered materials engineered to interact in unique ways, inspired by quantum wave propagation features observed in nanoscale heterostructures, to reveal how material differences and long-range interactions influence elastodynamic wave behavior. These new findings will advance fundamental knowledge of vibration control and drive innovations for safer infrastructure and aerospace technologies, promoting national health, prosperity, and security. The CAREER project also integrates education by mentoring students in applying quantum principles to engineering dynamic control solutions, developing a graduate course on quantum-inspired vibration manipulation, and engaging K–12 learners to inspire future engineers. Additionally, interactive vibration design tools will be created to involve the public and improve solutions through feedback, creating a self-reinforcing cycle where education and research advance together, breaking traditional barriers between fields. This research addresses fundamental challenges in dynamic control—specifically vibration mitigation, scattering-free waveguiding, and broadband edge states—by investigating elastodynamic wave propagation in composite metastructures composed of dissimilar layered materials with inter- and intralayer long-range couplings. By reinterpreting elastodynamic waves through the lens of quantum wave behavior and employing quantum-inspired analysis techniques, the study aims to uncover novel elastodynamic wave properties and develop advanced nonlinear dynamic control strategies. These strategies will draw inspiration from quantum wave propagation and interaction phenomena observed in nanoscale heterostructures, enabling effective vibration suppression under extreme operating conditions while incorporating real-time sensing capabilities. Experimental validation and characterization of these wave properties will be achieved using 3D printing and laser-based and image-correlation techniques, supported by advanced three-dimensional structural design using deep-learning algorithms for phonon dispersion prediction, mode tracing, and geometry optimization. The outcomes will establish new principles for wave manipulation in engineered structures and provide transformative approaches to vibration control in critical infrastructure and aerospace systems. Furthermore, the theoretical frameworks developed may inversely inspire discoveries in condensed matter physics, fostering cross-disciplinary breakthroughs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.