Negative effective gravity in water waves by periodic resonator arrays

Based on analytic derivations and numerical simulations, we show that near a low resonant frequency water waves cannot propagate through a periodic array of resonators (bottom-mounted split tubes) as if water has a negative effective gravitational acceleration g_e and positive effective depth h _e. This gives rise to a low-frequency resonant band gap in which water waves can be strongly reflected by the resonator array. For a damping resonator array, the resonant gap can also dramatically modify the absorption efficiency of water waves. The results provide a mechanism to block water waves and should find applications in ocean wave energy extraction.