Metamaterials and Fluid Flows
arXiv:2509.05371 · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-70163-2
Abstract
Understanding and controlling the dynamic interactions between fluid flows and solid materials and structures-a field known as fluid-structure interaction -is central not only to established disciplines such as aerospace and naval engineering but also to emerging technologies such as energy harvesting, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. In recent years, the advent of metamaterials-rationally designed composites with properties beyond their constituents, often not found in conventional materials-has provided exciting opportunities for rethinking and redesigning fluid-structure interaction. The premise of engineering the internal structure of materials interfacing with fluid flows is opening a new horizon for precise and effective manipulation and control of coupled fluidic, acoustic, and elastodynamics responses. This review focuses on this relatively unexplored interdisciplinary theme with broad real-world technological significance. Key performance metrics, such as fuel consumption of transport systems, efficiency of renewable energy extraction, mitigation of noise emissions, and resilience to structural fatigue, depend on the control of interactions between flow, acoustic, and vibration mechanisms. Flow control, for example, which spans a wealth of regimes such as laminar, transitional, turbulent, and unsteady separated flows, is highly influenced by the ability to tailor fluid-structure interaction behavior. We survey and discuss theoretical frameworks that describe the interplay between fluids and elastic solids, with a focus on contemporary work and emerging concepts. The paper is organised into three main sections-flow-structure interactions, acoustic-structure interactions, and exotic metamaterial concepts with potential impact on fluid-structure interaction-and concludes with perspectives on current challenges and future directions in this rapidly expanding area of research.
4 figures
References in corpus (40)
- Photonic Analogue of Two-dimensional Topological Insulators and Helical One-Way Edge Transport in Bi-Anisotropic Metamaterials
- Topological Acoustics
- Observation of a phononic quadrupole topological insulator
- Observation of topological valley transport of sound in sonic crystals
- Acoustic higher-order topological insulator on a Kagome lattice
- Topological Phononic Crystals with One-Way Elastic Edge Waves
- Floquet Topological Insulators for Sound
- Optimal Sound Absorbing Structures
- Acoustic cloaking theory
- Valley Vortex States in Sonic Crystals
- Topological Sound
- Observation of a phononic higher-order Weyl semimetal
- Non-Reciprocal Thermal Material by Spatio-Temporal Modulation
- Fluid flow control with transformation media
- Homogenisation Theory of Space-Time Metamaterials
- Architected lattices for simultaneous broadband attenuation of airborne sound and mechanical vibrations in all directions
- Acoustic propagation in fluids: an unexpected example of Lorentzian geometry
- Intrinsically polar elastic metamaterials
- Experimental evidence of an instability over an impedance wall in a duct with flow
- Graded resonator arrays for spatial frequency separation and amplification of water waves
- Surface wave non-reciprocity via time-modulated metamaterials
- Graded arrays of vertical barriers: rainbow reflection and broadband energy absorption
- Non-Local Phononic Crystals for Dispersion Customization and Undulation-point Dynamics
- Analogue Transformations in Physics and their Application to Acoustics
- Turbulent flows over dense filament canopies
- Broadband control of water wave energy amplification in chirped arrays
- Flow stabilization with active hydrodynamic cloaks
- Observation of topological gravity-capillary waves in a water wave crystal
- Theory of Truncation Resonances in Continuum Rod-based Phononic Crystals with Generally Asymmetric Unit Cells
- Metahouse: noise-insulating chamber based on periodic structures
- Attenuating surface gravity waves with mechanical metamaterials
- Experimental observations of topologically guided water waves within non-hexagonal structures
- Material vs. structure: Topological origins of band-gap truncation resonances in periodic structures
- Phononic-subsurface flow stabilization by subwavelength locally resonant metamaterials
- Sound diffusion with spatiotemporally modulated acoustic metasurfaces
- Tunable three-way valley Hall energy-splitter: venturing beyond graphene-like structures
- Omnimodal topological polarization of bilayer networks: analysis in the Maxwell limit and experiments on a 3D-printed prototype
- Local flow control by phononic subsurfaces over extended spatial domains
- A fully Eulerian solver for the simulation of multiphase flows with solid bodies: application to surface gravity waves
- High-Frequency Gravitational-Wave Detection Using a Chiral Resonant Mechanical Element and a Short Unstable Optical Cavity