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The study explores impact-induced nonlinear wave phenomena in one-dimensional assemblies of bistable tensegrity prisms. Each unit cell consists of an all-bar prism characterized by a two-well axial equilibrium path—either strain-softening or strain-hardening—periodically coupled with concentrated masses. Finite-chain numerical analyses are conducted to characterize the initiation, evolution, and dissipation of axial strain disturbances.
Systems built from stockier prism elements exhibit a softening bistable constitutive response, generating compressive wavefronts followed by dispersive oscillatory trails and gradual amplitude decay. Conversely, configurations employing more slender prisms display a hardening bistable response and sustain highly localized compression pulses with only minor accompanying oscillations.
In contrast to conventional bistable mass–spring lattices, the tensegrity architectures examined here inherently couple longitudinal deformation with torsional kinematics. Despite such geometric nonlinearity, the computed impact responses show strong qualitative consistency with established findings on solitary-wave propagation in bistable discrete chains. The peculiar dynamic features emerging in bistable tensegrity lattices suggest promising opportunities for tailored energy steering, pulse manipulation, and spatial confinement of mechanical disturbances.