Suppressing nonlinear resonances in an impact oscillator using SMAs

Abstract

In this paper, we study the resonant responses of an impact oscillator with a one sided SMA motion constraint operating in the pseudoelastic regime. The effectiveness of the SMA restraint in suppressing nonlinear resonances of the impact oscillator is assessed by comparing the dynamic responses of the impact oscillator with SMA and elastic restraints. It is shown that the hysteretic behaviour of the SMA restraint provides an overall vibration reduction in the resonant frequency ranges. Due to the softening behaviour of the SMA element, the resonant frequencies for the SMA oscillator were found to be lower than for the oscillator with an elastic restraint. At each resonance, a single periodic response for the oscillator with the elastic restraint corresponds to two co-existing periodic responses of the SMA oscillator. While at the first resonance peak the emergence of one of the co-existing responses is associated with the hardening effect of the SMA restraint when the pseudoelastic force varies over a complete transformation cycle, at higher frequency resonances incomplete phase transformations in the SMA were detected for both responses. The experimental study undertaken verified the response-modification effects predicted by the numerical analysis conducted under the isothermal approximation. The experimental results showed a good quantitative correspondence with the mathematical modelling.