Abstract
Extensive work has been done on the vibration characteristics of perfectly periodic structures. This article reviews the different methods of analysis from several fields of study, for example solid-state physics and civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineering, used to determine the effects of disorder in one-dimensional (1-D) and 2-D periodic structures. In the work examined, disorder has been found to lead to localization in 1-D periodic structures. It is important to understand localization because it causes energy to be concentrated near the disorder and may cause an overestimation of structural damping. The implications of localization for control are also examined.