Disorder-tuned soliton nucleation for vibrational energy harvesting in discrete nonlinear lattices. II. Proof of concept and experimental validation with a piezomagnetic metastructure
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 064044 – Published 10 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6w7n-mjf1
Abstract
This article presents the experimental validation of an energy harvesting approach based on stationary solitons in nonlinear metastructures. Building on the theoretical framework introduced in Part I, this work is an experimental investigation of a reduced-order model governed by the disordered damped nonlinear Schrödinger equation (DDNLS). The experimental setup consists of a multiphysics lattice composed of clamped-clamped beams, coupled through magnetic interactions and equipped with piezoelectric transducers, replicating the assumptions underlying the derivation of the DDNLS. The experimental results demonstrate that the DDNLS accurately captures the steady-state space-frequency energy distribution, thereby validating its use as a predictive and design-oriented tool. To further assess the model’s robustness, the influence of disorder and the number of oscillators on soliton stability is investigated, revealing consistent qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work constitutes the first experimental investigation of frequency-domain soliton-based energy harvesting in mechanical lattices, establishing a robust and scalable framework for the design of smart metastructures aimed at applications involving vibratory phenomena.
