Vibration attenuation of beam structure with intermediate support under harmonic excitation

Abstract

The optimal position design of viscoelastic supports is studied for vibration attenuation of a beam under a harmonic excitation. By attaching the supports properly to the structure, the dynamic deflection of the steady-state response can be significantly suppressed. In this work, the derivative analysis of the dynamic deflection is first investigated with respect to the attachment location of a viscoelastic support. A closed-form formulation for the dynamic response sensitivity is gained readily by use of the discrete methodology. Then, a heuristic optimization algorithm is applied on the design sensitivity analysis to achieve the optimal solution of the supporting points to minimize the maximal steady-state displacement vibration of a beam structure. Finally, two typical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the design sensitivity formulation developed. Numerical results show that the structural vibration deflections can be substantially reduced with optimization of the intermediate support positions.