Abstract

We report observations of mechanical energy localization in a strongly nonlinear discrete lattice. The experimental setup we consider is a one-dimensional nonloaded horizontal chain of identical spheres interacting via the nonlinear Hertz potential which contains a mass defect. Our experiments show that the interaction of a solitary wave with a light intruder excites a nonlinear localized mode. In agreement with dimensional analysis, we find that the frequency of localized oscillations exceeds the incident wave frequency spectrum and nonlinearly depends on incident wave strength and on mass and size of the intruder. The absence of tensile stress between grains allows some gaps to open, which in turn induces a significant enhancement of the amplitude of oscillations. We performed numerical simulations that precisely describe our observations without any adjusting parameters. © 2009 The American Physical Society.