Experimental investigation on a passive auto-tuning mass damper for vibration control

Abstract

Presented in this paper is an experimental investigation of a passive auto-tuning mass damper with Pulley connections (PATPD). It is a passive vibration control device that consists of a box filled with silica sand on roller supports. The silica sand provides the mass of the damper. The PATPD is connected to the structure to be controlled by a group of inelastic ropes and pulleys; it is free to move in any translational direction. The pulleys and rope transfer a driving force, resulted from the movement of the structure under control, to the damper. The inertial force from the damper mass, via the connecting rope and pulley, acts on the structure in the direction opposite to any movement and thus providing the vibration control of the structure. Free and forced vibration tests are performed on six MDOF test structures with and without the PATPD as the natural frequencies of the test structures are varied by changing its mass or stiffness whilst keeping the PATPD constant. The test results reveal that the proposed damper, without any tuning or specific adjustment, produces effective control on translational, torsional and coupled vibration of the MDOF structure—even if the vibration frequencies or natural frequencies of the structure that is being controlled changes significantly. The PATPD is simple, effective, robust and adaptive which renders this proposed damper appealing for engineering applications.