GLOBAL CONTROL OF STRUCTURAL VIBRATION USING MULTIPLE-TUNED TUNABLE VIBRATION NEUTRALIZERS

Tunable vibration absorbers are used to control vibration due to time-varying harmonic disturbances. Either vibration which is local to the neutralizer, or global vibration of the host structure can be chosen as the quantity to be suppressed. In this paper, the latter is the subject of investigation, but using multiple neutralizers rather than a single device. It is shown that by positioning these devices carefully, the global vibration of a structure (as characterized by its kinetic energy) can be effectively reduced at each single frequency in the frequency range of interest, and is comparable to the performance of active control. A methodology on how to correctly position the devices, an on how to determine their optimum mass is suggested.     

Control algorithms for active vibration isolation systems subject to random disturbances

Isolation from disturbances, particularly from foundations of high precision instruments, is achieved through either passive or active vibration control systems. Although a passive isolation system offers a simple and reliable means of protecting precision equipment from a vibration environment, it has performance limitations since its controllable frequency range is limited. An effective method for reducing an oscillation is by using an active vibration isolation system, which allows control of the dynamic rigidity of shock absorbers. In this paper, by considering the characteristics of the disturbing influences acting upon vibro-isolated objects, the dynamic characteristics of the AVIS device and control restriction, new optimal and quasi-optimal control algorithms are proposed. The characteristics of the new quasi-optimal active vibration isolation system proposed in the paper are investigated via experiments. It is shown that the adopted quasi-optimal active vibration isolation system can improve performance using in situ measurements.     

The characteristics of a nonlinear vibration neutralizer

This paper concerns an investigation into the use of cubic nonlinearity in a vibration neutralizer to improve its effectiveness. It is assumed that the frequency of the harmonic excitation is well above the resonance frequency of the machine to which the neutralizer is attached, and that the machine acts as a simple mass. It is also assumed that the response of the system is predominantly at the harmonic excitation frequency of the machine. The harmonic balance method is used to analyze the system. It is shown how the nonlinearity has the effect of shifting the resonant peak to a higher frequency away from the tuned frequency of the neutralizer so that the device is robust to mistune. In a linear neutralizer this can only be achieved by adding mass to the neutralizer, so the nonlinearity has a similar effect to that of adding mass. Some characteristic features are highlighted, and the effects of the system parameters on the performance are discussed. It is shown that, for a particular combination of the system parameters, the effect of the nonlinearity is also to increase the bandwidth of the device compared to the linear neutralizer with similar mass and damping. Some approximate expressions are derived, which facilitate insight into the parameters which influence the dynamics of the system. The results are validated by some experimental work.     

Suppression of random vibration in flexible structures using a hybrid vibration absorber

A design method is proposed to suppress stationary random vibration in flexible structures using a hybrid vibration absorber (HVA). While the traditional vibration absorber can damp down the vibration mainly at the pre-tuned mode of the primary structure, active damping is generated by the proposed HVA to damp down all resonant modes of interest of the vibrating structure and the spatial average mean square motion of the vibrating structure can be minimized. Only one absorber and one feedback signal are required to achieve global vibration suppression of a flexible structure under stationary random excitation. A special pole-placement controller is designed such that all vibration modes of the flexible structures become critically damped. It is proved analytically that the proposed HVA damps the vibration of the entire structure instead of just the attachment point of the absorber. The proposed optimized HVA is tested on a beam structure and it shows a superior performance on global suppression of broadband vibration in comparison to other published designs of passive and hybrid vibration absorbers.     

Active control of high-frequency vibration: Optimisation using the hybrid modelling method

This work presents active control of high-frequency vibration using skyhook dampers. The choice of the damper gain and its optimal location is crucial for the effective implementation of active vibration control. In vibration control, certain sensor/actuator locations are preferable for reducing structural vibration while using minimum control effort. In order to perform optimisation on a general built-up structure to control vibration, it is necessary to have a good modelling technique to predict the performance of the controller. The present work exploits the hybrid modelling approach, which combines the finite element method (FEM) and statistical energy analysis (SEA) to provide efficient response predictions at medium to high frequencies. The hybrid method is implemented here for a general network of plates, coupled via springs, to allow study of a variety of generic control design problems. By combining the hybrid method with numerical optimisation using a genetic algorithm, optimal skyhook damper gains and locations are obtained. The optimal controller gain and location found from the hybrid method are compared with results from a deterministic modelling method. Good agreement between the results is observed, whereas results from the hybrid method are found in a significantly reduced amount of time.     

An investigation into the simultaneous use of a resonator as an energy harvester and a vibration absorber

A mass–spring–damper system is at the core of both a vibration absorber and a harvester of energy from ambient vibrations. If such a device is attached to a structure that has a high impedance, then it will have very little effect on the vibrations of the structure, but it can be used to convert mechanical vibrations into electrical energy (act as an energy harvester). However, if the same device is attached to a structure that has a relatively low impedance, then the device may attenuate the vibrations as it may act as both a vibration absorber and an energy harvester simultaneously. In this paper such a device is discussed. Two situations are considered; the first is when the structure is excited with broadband random excitation and the second is when the structure is excited by a single frequency. The optimum parameters of the device for both energy harvesting and vibration attenuation are discussed for these two cases. For random excitation it is found that if the device is optimized for vibration suppression, then this is also adequate for maximizing the energy absorbed (harvested), and thus a single device can effectively suppress vibration and harvest energy at the same time. For single frequency excitation this is found not to be the case. To maximize the energy harvested, the natural frequency of the system (host structure and absorber) has to coincide with the forcing frequency, but to minimize vibration of the host structure, the natural frequency of the absorber has to coincide with the forcing frequency. In this case, therefore, a single resonator cannot effectively suppress vibration and harvest energy at the same time.     

Self-powered active vibration control using a single electric actuator

The authors have proposed self-powered active vibration control systems that achieve active vibration control using regenerated vibration energy. Such systems do not require external energy to produce a control force. This paper presents a self-powered system in which a single actuator realizes active control and energy regeneration.The system proposed needs to regenerate more energy than it consumes. To discuss the feasibility of this system, the authors proposed a method to calculate the balance between regenerated and consumed energies, using the dynamical property of the system, the feedback gain of the active controller, the specifications of the actuator, and the power spectral density of disturbance. A trade-off was found between the performance of the active controller and the energy balance. The feedback gain of the active controller is designed to have good suppression performance under conditions where regenerated energy exceeds consumed energy.A practical system to achieve self-powered active vibration control is proposed. In the system, the actuator is connected to the condenser through relay switches, which decide the direction of the electric current, and a variable resistor, which controls the amount of the electric current. Performance of the self-powered active vibration was examined in experiments; the results showed that the proposed system can produce the desired control force with regenerated energy, and that it had a suppression performance similar to that of an active control system using external energy. It was found that self-powered active control is attainable under conditions obtained through energy balance analysis.     

Adaptive active control of periodic vibration using maglev actuators

In this paper, active control of periodic vibration is implemented using maglev actuators which exhibit inherent nonlinear behaviors. A multi-channel feedforward control algorithm is proposed to solve these nonlinear problems, in which maglev actuators are treated as single-input–single-output systems with unknown time-varying nonlinearities. A radial basis function network is used by the algorithm as its controller, whose parameters are adapted only with the model of the linear system in the secondary path. Compared with the strategies in the conventional magnetic-levitation system control as well as nonlinear active noise/vibration control, the proposed algorithm has the advantage that the nonlinear modeling procedure of maglev actuators and the usage of displacement sensors could be both avoided. Numerical simulations and real-time experiments are carried out based on a multiple-degree-of-freedom vibration isolation system. The results show that the proposed algorithm not only could efficiently compensate for the actuators’ time-varying nonlinearities, but also has the ability to greatly attenuate the energy of periodic vibration.     

Broad band controller design for remote vibration using a geometric approach

Over the past three decades, a wide variety of active control methods have been proposed for controlling problematic vibration. The vast majority of approaches make the implicit assumption that sensors or actuators can be located in the region where vibration attenuation is required. However this is either not feasible or prohibitively expensive for many large scale structures or where the system environment is harsh. As a result, optimal control of local vibration may lead to enhancement at remote locations. Controlling remote vibration using only local sensing and actuation is an important concept to resolve this remote vibration control problem. Recently, a geometric methodology that provides an approach for defining the design freedom available for reducing vibrations at both local and remote locations has been proposed by the authors. In an earlier paper, the fundamental results were used to develop design procedures for discrete frequency control; in the current paper, however, the focus is on design procedures for broad band control. A systematic approach is developed that provides an additional design constraint to the geometric methodology to ensure that the resulting compensator provides closed loop stability. The design procedure is illustrated through its application to an active vibration isolation structure.     

Model independent control of lightly damped noise/vibration systems

Feedforward control is a popular strategy of active noise/vibration control. In well-damped noise/vibration systems, path transfer functions from actuators to sensors can be modeled by finite impulse response (FIR) filters with negligible errors. It is possible to implement noninvasive model independent feedforward control by a recently proposed method called orthogonal adaptation. In lightly damped noise/vibration systems, however, path transfer functions have infinite impulse responses (IIRs) that cause difficulties in design and implementation of broadband feedforward controllers. A major source of difficulties is model error if IIR path transfer functions are approximated by FIR filters. In general, active control performance deteriorates as model error increases. In this study, a new method is proposed to design and implement model independent feedforward controllers for broadband in lightly damped noise/vibration systems. It is shown analytically that the proposed method is able to drive the convergence of a noninvasive model independent feedforward controller to improve broadband control in lightly damped noise/vibration systems. The controller is optimized in the minimum H2 norm sense. Experiment results are presented to verify the analytical results.     

Control of ground-borne noise and vibration

Ground-borne noise and vibration created by train operations is one of the major environmental problems faced by rail transit systems. In the past 10–20 years there have been a number of developments in the control and prediction of ground-borne noise and vibration although it is evident that further research is needed. In this paper the focus is on two methods of controlling the vibration radiated by the transit structure. First is the use of floating slab trackbeds, a method that has proven to be very effective at reducing vibration at frequencies above the resonance frequency of the floating slab system. Second is to modify the design of transit car bogies such that the wheel/rail forces are reduced. Although this method is still in the exploratory phase it has been shown that proper design of the bogie suspension can significantly reduce the levels of ground-borne noise and vibration.     

Adaptive-passive vibration isolation between nonrigid machines and nonrigid foundations using a dual-beam periodic structure with shape memory alloy transverse connection

This paper examines the problem of broadband vibration control of nonrigid systems employing periodic structures with tunable parameters. It investigates this by using a semi-two-dimensional model that applies a dual-beam periodic structure with transverse branches as a parameter-tunable isolator. Conventional study of vibration control problems, including the problem of vibration control by periodic structures, usually reduces systems to equivalent single- or multi-mount models with only a unidirectional translation at a mounting point. This assumption of decoupling leads to the erroneous prediction of vibratory power transmission when designing an isolator for a nonrigid system. Such a periodic structure involves the coupling of vibrations between different mounting points and different directions of motion and is therefore a reasonable simulation of the real-life problem. However, its application as a periodic isolator has not been proposed previously. The configuration of shape memory alloy (SMA) branches and non-SMA dual beams is proposed in order that this structure can effectively exploit the advantages of SMA materials, namely their significantly varying Young?s moduli which can be tuned to adjust and widen the stop bands, and can prevent the associated limitation of hysteresis. Equations are derived governing the vibration transmitted through any number of periodic mounts between nonrigid machines and foundations. Based on the derived results, two methodologies are developed to determine the proper Young?s moduli of the SMA branches and minimize the transmitted power. The numerical results demonstrate that the adaptive SMA branches at the proper temperatures are able to attenuate broadband vibration by adjusting the locations and broadening the widths of stop bands. With the application of a semi-two-dimensional periodic structure to broadband vibration isolation, this paper provides an approach and supporting methodologies for broadband vibration control using periodic structures.     

Semi-active friction tendons for vibration control of space structures

Semi-active vibration control systems are becoming popular because they offer both the reliability of passive systems and the versatility of active control without high power demands. In this work, a new semi-active control system is proposed and studied numerically. The system consists of variable-friction dampers linked to the structure through cables. Auxiliary soft springs in parallel with these friction dampers allow them to return to their initial pre-tensioned state. Using cables makes the system suitable for deployable, flexible and lightweight structures, such as space structures (spacecraft). A control system with three control laws applied to a single-degree-of-freedom structure is studied. Two of these laws are derived by using Lyapunov theory, whereas the third one is developed heuristically. In order to assess the performance of the control system, a parametric study is carried out through numerical simulations. An application of the proposed method to multi-degree-of-freedom structures is also presented and demonstrated through a numerical example. The system in semi-active mode is more effective than in passive mode and its effectiveness is less sensitive to loss of pre-tension.     

On the finite settling time and residual vibration control of flexible structures

Rapid end-point positioning of a structure with minimal residual vibration under a single bounded control input is considered. The structure between the actuator and the end point is assumed to be flexible, and is the main cause of positioning error from residual vibration. A standard solution to this problem is offered by the well known bang-bang control. Implementation of such a bang-bang control strategy leads to decreased response time but introduces unwanted vibrations from repeated overshooting of the switching contour, caused by errors in the implementation of the discontinuous control law. An appropriately shaped input function based on minimum energy and bounded control for such end-point positioning systems totally eliminates the residual vibration while making the response time small. The proposed forcing input has two discontinuities at most and therefore does not suffer from the undesirable intermediate discontinuities present in the bang-bang control. This novel control force compares favorably with the bang-bang solution with respect to response time. It also compares favorably with the ramped sinusoidal input force proposed by Meckl and Seering [1] with respect to residual vibration. They shaped the input function by eliminating the resonant frequencies where as the resonant frequencies are retained in the function proposed. As an illustration, the newly shaped forcing input is applied to a rotating thin flexible beam to suppress residual vibration.     

A novel design of semi-active hydraulic mount with wide-band tunable notch frequency

Hydraulic engine mount is advanced vibration isolator with superior performance to reduce vibration transferred from engine to chassis. As the stiffness at notch frequency is small, some semi-active or active hydraulic mounts tune some parameters to let notch frequency coincide with exciting frequency for better vibration isolation performance. It is discovered the current semi-active mounts can tune the notch frequency in narrow frequency band when only one parameter is tuned. A novel semi-active hydraulic engine mount design which introduces screw thread is proposed and researched in the paper. This hydraulic mount can control both cross section area and the length of inertia track and the theoretical tunable notch frequency band is [0, ∞). Theoretical work is carried out to uncover the capability for the proposed design to tune notch frequency. Simulation work is performed to understand its high vibration isolation performance. For the purpose of energy conservation, the friction self-locking is introduced. This denotes once the mount is tuned at optimal condition, the energy can be cut off and the optimal condition will never change. We also determine the best time to tune the parameters of the proposed mount in order to decrease the acting force. The proposed semi-active mount has capability to obtain wide band tunable notch frequency and has merit of energy conservation.     

Minimization of the mean square velocity response of dynamic structures using an active-passive dynamic vibration absorber

An optimal design of a hybrid vibration absorber (HVA) with a displacement and a velocity feedback for minimizing the velocity response of the structure based on the H(2) optimization criterion is proposed. The objective of the optimal design is to reduce the total vibration energy of the vibrating structure under wideband excitation, i.e., the total area under the velocity response spectrum is minimized in this criterion. One of the inherent limitations of the traditional passive vibration absorber is that its vibration suppression is low if the mass ratio between the absorber mass and the mass of the primary structure is low. The active element of the proposed HVA helps further reduce the vibration of the controlled structure, and it can provide very good vibration absorption performance even at a low mass ratio. Both the passive and active elements are optimized together for the minimization of the mean square velocity of the primary system as well as the active force required in the HVA. The proposed HVA was tested on single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) and continuous vibrating structures and compared to the traditional passive vibration absorber.     

Use of optimization in helicopter vibration control by structural modification

The application of a mathematical optimization process to helicopter vibration control by structural modification is described. Attention is focused on the reduction of vibration in the crew area. With stiffness parameters as design variables, use is made of forced vibration response circles to identify the parameters most effective in controlling the response in the crew area, thereby reducing the number of available design variables to a tractable size. The problem of reducing vibration is then cast as a non-linear programming problem and a sequential unconstrained minimization technique incorporating an algorithm based on the methods of Davidon, Fletcher and Powell is used to determine the precise values of the parameters. The method is applied to a simple two-dimensional beam-element helicopter fuselage model and the results discussed. Although the model is too simple for useful deductions of practical significance to be made in the strictly engineering sense, the exercise does demonstrate what can and cannot be done in controlling vibration by using an optimization routine.     

Design optimization of a damped hybrid vibration absorber

In this article, the H_∞ optimization design of a hybrid vibration absorber (HVA), including both passive and active elements, for the minimization of the resonant vibration amplitude of a single degree-of-freedom (sdof) vibrating structure is derived by using the fixed-points theory. The optimum tuning parameters are the feedback gain, the tuning frequency, damping and mass ratios of the absorber. The effects of these parameters on the vibration reduction of the primary structure are revealed based on the analytical model. Design parameters of both passive and active elements of the HVA are optimized for the minimization of the resonant vibration amplitude of the primary system. One of the inherent limitations of the traditional passive vibration absorber is that its vibration absorption is low if the mass ratio between the absorber mass and the mass of the primary structure is low. The proposed HVA overcomes this limitation and provides very good vibration reduction performance even at a low mass ratio. The proposed optimized HVA is compared to a recently published HVA designed for similar propose and it shows that the present design requires less energy for the active element of the HVA than the compared design.     

多级阻振质量阻隔振动波的传递特性研究

利用波动理论的分析、处理方法,分析了多级平行阻振质量阻隔振动波传递的特性,给出了多级阻振质量对平面弯曲波传递的阻抑公式,讨论了平面弯曲波传递时形成的穿透频段和堵塞频段,并进行了相应的算例分析,采用有限元法对多级阻振质量的隔振性能进行了数值计算,结果表明:阻振质量对偏离法向角的弯曲波分量的阻抑较强,传递能量的损失较大;多级阻振质量能够较好地阻抑结构声的传递,且阻抑效果随着阻振级数的增加而增大;在有几个阻振质量的情况下,通过改变它们的平行性,可以提高其隔振效果;且如果将不同质量、不同横截面形状的阻振质量前后交错配置,同样可以使总的隔振效果提高,这对于多级阻振质量在船体结构减振降噪中的应用具有重要的参考意义。