Elastic fields generated by multiple small inclusions with high mass density at nearly resonant frequencies

Abstract

We derive the elastic field generated by multiple small-scaled inclusions distributed in a bounded set of $\mathbb{R}^3$. These inclusions are modeled with moderate values of the Lamé coefficients while they have a large relative mass density. These properties allow them to enjoy a sequences of resonant frequencies that can be computed via the eigenvalues of the volume integral operator having the Navier fundamental matrix as a kernel, i.e. the Navier volume operator. The dominant field, i.e. the Foldy-Lax field, models the multiple interactions between the inclusions with scattering coefficients that are inversely proportional to the difference between the used incident frequency and the already mentioned resonances. We show, in particular, that to reconstruct remotely the scattered field generated after $N$ interactions between the inclusions, one needs to use an incident frequency appropriately close to the proper resonance of the inclusions. We provide an explicit link between the order $N$ of interactions and the distance from the incident frequency to the resonance. Finally, if the cluster of the inclusions is densely distributed in a given bounded domain, then the expression of the induced dominant field suggests that the equivalent homogenized mass density can change sign depending if the used incident frequencies is smaller or larger than a certain threshold (which is explicitly given in terms of the resonant frequencies of the inclusions).