Global sensitivity analysis of frequency band gaps in one-dimensional phononic crystals

•Sobol’ sensitivity analysis is utilized to study the characteristic of the first frequency band gap in 1D phononic crystals with respect to the input parameters.•This study revealed the quantified influence of the parameters and their correlation in determining the first frequency band gap.•Simple straightforward design equations based on reduced Sobol’ functions are proposed to easily estimate the first frequency band gap. Phononic crystals have been widely employed in many engineering fields, which is because of their unique feature of frequency band gaps. For example, their capability to filter out the incoming elastic waves, which include seismic waves, will have a significant impact on the seismic safety of nuclear infrastructure. To design accurately design the desired frequency band gaps, one must pay attention to how the input parameters and the interaction of the parameters can affect the frequency band gaps. Global sensitivity analysis can decompose the dispersion relationship of the phononic crystals and screen the variance attributed to each of the parameters and the interaction between them. Prior to the application in one-dimensional (1D) phononic crystals, this paper will first review the theory of global sensitivity analysis using variance decomposition (Sobol’ sensitivity analysis). Afterwards, the sensitivity analysis is applied to study a simple mathematical model with three input variables for a better understanding of the concept. Then, the sensitivity analysis is utilized to study the characteristic of the first frequency band gap in 1D phononic crystals with respect to the input parameters. This study reveals the quantified influence of the parameters and their correlation in determining the first frequency band gap. In addition, simple straight-forward design equations based on reduced Sobol’ functions are proposed to estimate easily the first frequency band gap. Finally, the error associated with the proposed design equations is also addressed.