A study of a nonlinear vibration isolator with a quasi-zero stiffness characteristic

A vibration isolator consisting of a vertical linear spring and two nonlinear pre-stressed oblique springs is considered in this paper. The system has both geometrical and physical nonlinearity. Firstly, a static analysis is carried out. The softening parameter leading to quasi-zero dynamic stiffness at the equilibrium position is obtained as a function of the initial geometry, pre-stress and the stiffness of the springs. The optimal combination of the system parameters is found that maximises the displacement from the equilibrium position when the prescribed stiffness is equal to that of the vertical spring alone. It also satisfies the condition that the dynamic stiffness only changes slightly in the neighbourhood of the static equilibrium position. For these values, a dynamical analysis of the isolator under asymmetric excitation is performed to quantify the undesirable effects of the nonlinearities. It includes considering the possibilities of the appearance of period-doubling bifurcation and its development into chaotic motion. For this purpose, approximate analytical methods and numerical simulations accompanied with qualitative methods including phase plane plots, Poincaré maps and Lyapunov exponents are used. Finally, the frequency at which the first period-doubling bifurcation appears is found and the effect of damping on this frequency determined.