An SMA cable-based negative stiffness seismic isolator: Development, experimental characterization, and numerical modeling

Shape memory alloy (SMA)-based seismic isolation systems can successfully reduce the peak and residual displacements of bridges during strong earthquake, but they commonly lead to an increased force demands in substructure. This study explores the development of an SMA cable-based negative stiffness isolator to alleviate this problem. The proposed isolator is composed of superelastic SMA cables and a frictional sliding bearing with convex surfaces. The frictional sliding bearing limit the forces transferred to the superstructure and provides energy dissipation, while its built-in negative stiffness mechanism reduces the force demands in substructure. SMA cables provide critical restoring forces, additional energy dissipation, and displacement-limiting capacity. Based on the force balance, the negative stiffness and restoring requirements of the SMA cable-based negative stiffness isolator were analyzed first. Then, a prototype large-scale isolator was designed and fabricated. Next, the experimental testing of the developed isolator was performed under two different vertical load levels. Finally, finite element modeling of the proposed isolator was conducted, and the simulation results and experimental results were compared and discussed. The proposed isolator generates lower forces than the SMA-based zero and positive stiffness isolators and can exhibit stable energy dissipation capabilities with very good displacement-limiting and self-centering capabilities.

Vibration control through the robust nonlinear absorber with negative stiffness and internal resonance creation

In this study, a nonlinear absorber that works with a negative stiffness mechanism is suggested to mitigate vibration, and its effect on the reduction of vibration is investigated. The negative stiffness, which is inherently nonlinear, creates internal resonance; therefore, the vibration energy can be transmitted from low-frequency to high-frequency vibrating modes, causing vibration suppression. The nonlinear absorber is added to the primary nonlinear system, and when the main system is subjected to external resonance due to harmonic excitation, the negative stiffness parameter of absorber is so adjusted that autoparametric resonance occurs and vibration is reduced. First, the mathematical model of the system is presented and the governing differential equations of the motion are derived, and then, using the multiple scale method, the equations are solved for the case without, and with the 1:3 internal resonance. The responses and their stability are inspected, discussed, and compared. After that, the effect of negative stiffness and damping parameters on vibration amplitude reduction is investigated and the adequacy of the proposed absorber will be demonstrated by numerical analysis. Finally, the energy exchange between the primary system and the absorber will be demonstrated by plotting the responses in the state space and the displacement response Fourier spectrum.

Seismic Performance of the Inerter and Negative Stiffness–Based Dampers for Vibration Control of Structures

Passive energy dissipation devices or supplemental damping devices have been successfully implemented into structures for controlling the excessive vibrations under wind and seismic excitation. Recent developments in the form of negative stiffness dampers (NSDs) and inerter-based vibration absorbers (IVAs) as potential energy dissipation devices are of considerable interest to researchers. The present study evaluates the performance of the combined NSD and IVA as a possible alternative to the traditional energy dissipation devices such as viscous dampers (VDs) and viscoelastic dampers (VEDs). The mathematical formulation and optimal design of the combined NSD and IVA mechanism are presented. A 20-storey benchmark building is modeled as a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) shear building. The dynamic equations for the MDOF building are written in the state-space form, and a simple optimization approach based on effective modal damping is prescribed. Comparative performance between traditionally applied and novel IVA and NSD is investigated. The design considerations to analyze structures employing combined NSDs and IVAs are developed. It is demonstrated that NSDs and IVA-based passive energy dissipation devices are the most efficient devices in reducing inter-storey drifts and floor accelerations compared with VDs and VEDs using the same damping coefficient.

Vibration Isolation System with Kalman Filter Estimated Acceleration Feedback: An Approach of Negative Stiffness Control

This paper presents the isolation of vibration through the acceleration feedback of the Kalman filter. In this paper, vibration isolation was analyzed both analytically and experimentally through the estimation of the Kalman filter (KF). A negative stiffness mechanism was used to reduce the level of vibration for the developed dynamic system. The technique of negative stiffness can provide stiffness of infinite level to low stiffness as well as disturbance generated by the ground vibration directly. The performance of an isolation system through a mechanism of negative stiffness was improved by the addition of acceleration feedback. Acceleration was measured using a microelectromechanical (MEMS) type accelerometer instead of traditional servo type accelerometers due to lower cost. However, the output of a microelectromechanical (MEMS) type accelerometer is usually noisy. To avoid this difficulty, an acceleration that was estimated by a Kalman filter was considered in the acceleration feedback instead of directly measured acceleration. The dynamic behaviors of the system were compared for both the Kalman-filtered acceleration and the directly measured acceleration feedback. It is observed that the former has a significant effect on the improvement of the characteristics of the vibration isolation systems than later.

An Air Spring Vibration Isolator Based on a Negative-Stiffness Structure for Vehicle Seat

This research introduces an air spring vibration isolator system (ASVIS) based on a negative-stiffness structure (NSS) to improve the vehicle seat’s vibration isolation performance at low excitation frequencies. The main feature of the ASVIS consists of two symmetric bellows-type air springs which were designed on the basis of a negative stiffness mechanism. In addition, a crisscross structure with two straight bars was also used as the supporting legs to provide the nonlinear characteristics with NSS. Moreover, instead of using a vertical mechanical spring, a sleeve-type air spring was employed to provide positive stiffness. As a result, as the weight of the driver varies, the dynamic stiffness of the ASVIS can be easily adjusted and controlled. Next, the effects of the dimension parameters on the nonlinear force and nonlinear stiffness of ASVIS were analyzed. A design process for the ASVIS is provided based on the analytical results in order to achieve high static–low dynamic stiffness. Finally, numerical simulations were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the ASVIS. The results obtained in this paper show that the values of the seat displacement of the ASVIS with NSS were reduced by 77.16% in comparison with those obtained with the traditional air spring isolator without NSS, which indicates that the design of the ASVIS isolator with NSS allows the effective isolation of vibrations in the low-frequency region.

About the weight and size parameters of electromagnetic stiffness correctors

A significant reduction in the levels of general ship vibrations can be achieved by using vibration isolators with a “floating” section of zero stiffness in vibration protection suspensions. In such devices, in parallel to the main elastic element, the so-called stiffness corrector (compensator) is switched on - a device with a negative coefficient of static stiffness, equipped with a restructuring system that ensures the retention of the corrector elements when the relative position of the vibrating and protected objects, caused by a change in static forces acting on these objects. One of the variants of the corrector is an electromagnetic stiffness corrector, in which the power characteristic with a negative stiffness coefficient is provided by two electromagnets with a common armature turned on in opposite directions. The disadvantage of such correctors is the dependence of their overall dimensions on the value of the permissible relative displacement of the vibrating and protected objects. The article deduced mathematical expressions that approximately determine the dependence of the overall dimensions of the stiffness corrector electromagnets on the value of the calculated relative displacement of the vibrating and protected objects, the possible field of application of vibration isolators Xwith electromagnetic stiffness correctors is determined.