This study describes the wave propagation in a periodic lattice which is formed by a spring-mass two-dimensional structure with local Duffing nonlinear resonators. The wave propagation characteristics of the system is evaluated by using the perturbation method and Floquet-Bloch theorem to determine the dispersion relationships and wave propagation characteristics in the nonlinear two-dimensional acoustic metamaterials (2D AM). A quantitative study of wave amplitude is carried out to reveal the limits of the proposed method. In particular, the harmonic balance method is introduced to investigate the frequency response and effective mass of the nonlinear systems. We find that the dispersion relations, group velocity, negative effective mass of unit-cell are related to wave amplitude. Furthermore, the dual wave vector, bifurcation of periodic solutions and chaotic band are observed in the nonlinear systems. The results can be used to tune wave propagation in the nonlinear acoustic metamaterials and provide some ideas for the study of nonlinear metamaterials.