A State-Switched Absorber Used for Vibration Control of Continuous Systems

Abstract

A state-switched absorber (SSA) is a device that is capable of switching between discrete stiffnesses; thus, it is able to instantaneously switch between resonance frequencies. The state-switched absorber is essentially a passive vibration absorber between switch events; however, at each switch event the SSA instantly “retunes” its natural frequency and maintains that frequency until the next switch event. This paper considers the optimization of the state-switched absorber applied to a continuous vibrating system and details the experimental validation of these simulation results. A simulated annealing optimization algorithm was utilized to optimize the state-switched absorber. For the most part, the SSA performed only marginally better than a classical tuned vibration absorber (TVA). However, for a select few cases considered, the SSA was able to reduce the kinetic energy of the plate to which it is attached by 12.9dB over that of a classical tuned vibration absorber. The optimal SSA location on a clamped square plate was near the center of the plate for the vast majority of the forcing cases considered. To experimentally validate the simulation, a SSA was fabricated by employing magnetorheological elastomers to achieve a stiffness change. For several two-force component excitations, several tuning configurations of the SSA were applied and the kinetic energy of the system was found and optimized. As with the majority of the optimization cases, the experiments showed the SSA outperforming the TVA by only 2dB. When comparing the observed results to those found via simulation, the simulations accurately predicted the performance of the SSA in the experiments.

Magnetorheological Elastomers and Their Applications

“…This change may be controlled as necessary or desired via a control algorithm applied through a processor. A number of research groups were focused on such applications, for example, Albanese [46] and Holdhusen [47] presented MRE absorbers working in a compression mode. Deng et al [11,48], Zhang and Li [14] presented MRE absorbers worked in a shear mode.…”

Application of dynamic vibration absorbers in structural vibration control under multi-frequency harmonic excitations

“…It can address the control of multifrequency excitation. Holdhusen used magneto-rheological elastomers to fabricate an SSA for vibration control of continuous system [21]. The results showed that the SSA was effective over a larger bandwidth than that of a classical tuned vibration absorber.…”

Study on the vibration suppression of a flexible carbody for urban railway vehicles with a magnetorheological elastomer-based dynamic vibration absorber

“…designed a kind of tension–compression DVA that uses magnetorheological elastic material as the spring unit to switch between resonance frequencies and the effective bandwidth. 9…”