Reduction of Flow-Induced Vibration Using Parametric Excitation

Abstract

Vibration of structures, such as suspension bridges, skyscrapers and high rises, sometimes cause people to feel anxious. These vibrations are usually induced by the fluid flow, especially vortex shedding and they grow into self-excited vibrations, which are normally accompanied by the extremely large vibration amplitude. In order to solve these vibration problems, many researchers have reported the effectiveness of vibration control methods and most of the methods are very practical for the actual structure. These control methods usually consist of feedback control systems for the active control and some kinds of damper for the passive control. This paper deals with one control method, which is using the parametric excitation. The efficiencies of this method for the self-excited vibration have already been analytically examined by Tondl. However, it is not confirmed experimentally, and it is necessary to discuss the possibility of realization and application for the actual system. In this study, our experiment confirms the effectiveness of this control method. For this purpose, an experimental apparatus, which expressed a two degrees of freedom system and consisted of an electromagnetic actuator, a steel beam and two masses, were prepared. A digital signal processor was used for the realization of the parametric excitation control. During the experiments, we confirmed the effectiveness of the control procedure and accuracy of the theoretical results. In addition, the relationships between the ratio of the two masses and the ratio of the natural and the parametric excitation frequency, which are required for the effective control, were cleared. According to this study, the quenching of self-excited vibration by using the parametric excitation is realized within the very narrow band of frequency and the mass ratio should be small.