Vibration absorption of parallel-coupled nonlinear energy sink under shock and harmonic excitations

Nonlinear energy sink (NES) can passively absorb broadband energy from primary oscillators. Proper multiple NESs connected in parallel exhibit superior performance to single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) NESs. In this work, a linear coupling spring is installed between two parallel NESs so as to expand the application scope of such vibration absorbers. The vibration absorption of the parallel and parallel-coupled NESs and the system response induced by the coupling spring are studied. The results show that the responses of the system exhibit a significant difference when the heavier cubic oscillators in the NESs have lower stiffness and the lighter cubic oscillators have higher stiffness. Moreover, the e±ciency of the parallel-coupled NES is higher for medium shocks but lower for small and large shocks than that of the parallel NESs. The parallel-coupled NES also shows superior performance for medium harmonic excitations until higher response branches are induced. The performance of the parallel-coupled NES and the SDOF NES is compared. It is found that, regardless of the chosen SDOF NES parameters, the performance of the parallel-coupled NES is similar or superior to that of the SDOF NES in the entire force range.

Temperature Effects on Dynamic Properties of Suspended Cables Subjected to Dual Harmonic Excitations

The paper aims at studying the influences of temperature on the suspended cables’ dynamical behaviors subjected to dual harmonic excitations in thermal environments. Significantly, the quadratic nonlinearity and the corresponding secondary resonances are considered. By introducing a tension variation factor, the nonlinear vibration equations of motion could be obtained based on the condensation model. By using Galerkin’s procedure, the continuous model of the nonlinear system is reduced to a set of infinite models with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities. By using the multiple scales method, the resultant reduced model is solved and the stability analysis is also presented in two simultaneous resonance cases. Nonlinear dynamical behaviors with thermal effects are presented using bifurcation diagrams, time-history curves, phase portraits, frequency spectrums, and Poincaré sections. The numerical results show that thermal effects induce different scenarios. The sensitivities of linear (natural frequency) and nonlinear (quadratic and cubic) coefficients to temperature variations are different. The temperature may increase or decrease the response amplitudes depending on the excitation amplitude and the sag-to-span ratio. The inflection point is shifted and exhibited at a smaller or larger excitation amplitude in thermal environments. The resonant range between two Pitchfork bifurcations seems to be reduced when the temperature is decreasing. The response amplitude is very sensitive to temperature, and even an opposite spring behavior may be exhibited due to warming/cooling conditions. However, the periodic motions seem independent of temperature variations.

Performance of a Cantilever Energy Harvester under Harmonic and Random Excitations

The technique of harvesting the energy from base structural vibration through a piezoelectric transducer attached at an appropriate location on the vibrating structure is gaining popularity in recent years. Although the amount of energy harvested depends on the type and magnitude of base excitation, the energy harvest under random excitation as compared to equivalent harmonic excitations is not yet well understood and is investigated in this paper through a cantilever energy harvester. Initially, the energy harvested under harmonic excitations is numerically simulated and experimentally validated under increasing base accelerations with different load resistances. Subsequently, the performance of this energy harvester is experimentally studied under random excitations. The results demonstrate that the harvested energy (a) reaches maximum value when the base excitation matches the natural frequency of the harvester, (b) increases with the increase in base accelerations irrespective of the type of excitation, and (c) increases by 2-14 times under random excitations as compared to equivalent harmonic excitations i.e. under same energy input. It is recommended that the energy harvester be used in aerospace structures where random vibration amplitude is higher, to harvest more energy.