Vibration Attenuation Research Articles (Page 1)

Vibration attenuation in tapered metabeams: Influence of conicity and lattice arrangement on elastic wave dispersion

Aero-elastic behaviors and vibration attenuation of bolted joint multi-plate structures

Abstract Springs inspired by the Kresling origami pattern have recently gained prominence as a foundation for developing functional engineering systems with versatile properties, catering to niche applications across various technological fields. With minimal adjustments to their geometric parameters, the restoring force of such springs can be tuned to exhibit quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) behavior that is ideal for designing low-frequency vibration isolators. In this work, we present the design, fabrication, and performance analysis of a fully functional, ultra-low-frequency torsional vibration isolator based on the Kresling origami spring. Fabricated from single-phase Nylon PA12 using selective laser sintering (SLS), the isolator weighs less than 5 grams and combines high static stiffness with low dynamic stiffness, enabling compact, scalable, and cost-effective isolation solutions. Unlike many existing QZS designs that are complex or suited only for large systems, this design is easily manufactured, durable, and well-suited for precision engineering. Quasi-static torsional tests reveal a broad QZS region, while dynamic testing shows a nearly linear response and effective vibration attenuation beginning at frequencies as low as 2.5 Hz, even under large-amplitude excitations. Furthermore, the isolator shows high endurance to prolonged cyclic loading with negligible performance degradation. These findings highlight the potential of origami-inspired structures in creating scalable, high-performance vibration isolators and provide a strong foundation for future research in advanced dynamic applications.

The vibrations induced by urban rail transit are exerting an increasingly prominent influence on the surrounding buildings and human health. As a prevalent track defect, rail corrugation can exacerbate the vibrations generated during train operation. In this study, on-site measurements were carried out to investigate the characteristics of rail corrugation in the small-radius curve segments of subways. The differences in rail corrugation with and without vibration mitigation measures were analyzed. Additionally, the vibration responses of adjacent buildings in the steel spring floating slab track segments with rail corrugation were examined. The findings of this study indicate that in the small-radius curve segments of the steel spring floating slab track, there exists a rail corrugation phenomenon with a wavelength of 200 mm. This leads to inadequate vibration attenuation in the 80 Hz frequency band, allowing some vibration energy to still be transmitted to adjacent buildings. Nevertheless, the vibration responses of buildings are predominantly governed by their own structural vibration modes.

The CRTS III slab ballastless track is widely deployed in China’s high-speed railway projects and faces the issue of intensified track structure vibrations under train loads. To investigate the dynamic response characteristics and transmission patterns of the track structure as train speeds increase, field acceleration measurements and data analysis were conducted. The results indicate that, under conditions of good track smoothness, higher operational speeds significantly amplify track structure vibrations-a factor that must be considered in design. With increasing speed, the dominant frequencies of the rail and track slab increase significantly, high-frequency components become more prominent, and the spectral range broadens. Conversely, the base plate and sealing layer exhibit lower dominant frequencies along with weaking of high frequency components and shifting of acceleration frequencies to low frequency bands. As the velocity increases, vibrations within the track structure progressively concentrate in the rail, track slab, and base plate, while those in the sealing layer diminish. A strong vibration dissipation effect is observed between the rail and track whereas transmission loss between the base plate and the sealing layer remains limited due to their verified structural bonding. At frequencies above 250 Hz, increasing speeds lead to significant transmission losses between the track slab and base plate, with notable attenuation of high frequency vibrations. At a speed of 180 km/h, the transfer function amplitude from the rail to the track slab is greater, through its frequency distribution is more concentrated. At higher speeds, more high frequency components are transmitted to the track slab. Meanwhile, in the low-frequency range, vibration transmission from base plate to the sealing layer decreases, while phase correlation analysis indicates improved vibration coherence between them.

Controlling structural vibrations remains a major engineering challenge, particularly for applications requiring efficient energy dissipation. While traditional solutions often rely on viscoelastic multilayers, this study introduces an innovative architected beam exploiting a granular medium in shear, where interparticle friction serves as a dissipative mechanism. To adapt this concept to flexural wave control, a composite beam with a granular core was designed. This device confines a granular medium between two beams, with in-phase flexural movements inducing shear in the granular core, thus activating energy dissipation. A nonlinear homogenized model of a three-layer beam was developed, incorporating a previously established granular behavior law. The vibration attenuation performance was compared to that of conventional viscoelastic multilayer systems. Results demonstrate that the granular architecture offers significant energy dissipation through particle shear, outperforming traditional methods in certain frequency ranges. The study also proposes pathways for experimental implementation, with potential applications in fields requiring high-performance vibration control, such as aerospace or civil engineering. This work opens new perspectives in metamaterial design by combining granular mechanics and structural dynamics for customized vibration attenuation.

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a numerical investigation of the ground vibration attenuation promoted by gabion and concrete mats. The analyses employ a coupled boundary‐finite element model, in which the mat is modeled as a flexible plate in fully bonded contact with the surface of an unbounded, linear‐elastic half‐space representing the soil. This boundary‐element based model enables a detailed representation of the wave scattering resulting from the interaction between the mat and the soil. Extensive numerical results are provided, assessing the attenuation performance of gabion and concrete mats for horizontal and vertical vibrations at various target points. The study considers seismic and external load excitation, and considers constitutive and geometric parameters that have direct applications in engineering practice. The results show that mats can be selected to provide dramatic attenuation of ground motion, reaching up to 40 dB. The study offers valuable insights on how relatively inexpensive devices such as gabion and concrete mats can be used to protect vibration‐sensitive structures.

Abstract This research proposes a novel hybrid lever-inertial amplified dynamic vibration absorber (LIADVA), which integrates lever and inertial amplification mechanisms within a grounded-type dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) framework. The proposed configuration significantly enhances vibration mitigation by amplifying effective inertia and improving energy dissipation, thereby overcoming the bandwidth and mass limitations of conventional passive DVAs. A single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system coupled with the LIADVA is modeled using Lagrange’s method, and closed-form analytical solutions are derived. Tuning parameters for frequency and damping, optimized via H ∞ criteria, are analytically derived using the two-fixed-point theory. Design parameter boundaries are systematically analyzed, and a pre-design estimation chart is introduced to support practical implementation. Results demonstrate that LIADVA effectively suppresses both system and absorber responses, achieving substantial peak amplitude reduction and broadening the vibration attenuation bandwidth. The absorber also exhibits strong robustness against parameter detuning, maintaining high performance without requiring large physical mass. Analytical results are validated through numerical simulations, confirming the accuracy and practical applicability of the proposed LIADVA tuning formulas. Compared to H ∞ -optimized lever-based, grounded, and conventional DVAs, LIADVA reduces absorber response by 36%–78% and expands the effective bandwidth by approximately 34%–130%, offering improved installation efficiency and enhanced feasibility for real-world engineering applications.

Coupling beam systems have appeared widely in various engineering fields, where several additional beams are generally set near coupling beam systems, which may be designed as a vibration control mechanism by introducing some unique connecting relations. This study introduces nonlinear connecting relations to connect an additional beam and a two-layer beam system, where the additional beam equipped with connecting nonlinear stiffness is defined as an internal beam-type CNES. The Lagrange method is chosen to calculate the nonlinear vibrating system’s numerical responses, which can correctly calculate the nonlinear vibrating system’s numerical responses. Introducing the internal beam-type CNES is beneficial for broadband attenuation of the vibration of the vibrating system’s main structures. The internal beam-type CNES’s representative working states are divided into linear and nonlinear broadband vibration attenuating states. The appearance of representative nonlinear responses can be judged as a sign of the internal beam-type CNES working in the nonlinear broadband vibration attenuating state. Increasing the nonlinear stiffness of the internal beam-type CNES can motivate representative nonlinear responses of the vibrating system, while increasing its viscous damping can eliminate representative nonlinear responses. A delicate parameter selection of the nonlinear stiffness of the beam-type CNES helps enhance the vibration attenuation of the two-layer beam. Importantly, the internal beam-type CNES reveals the attractive vibration-attenuation potential in controlling the vibration of coupling beam systems. The proposed internal beam-type CNES provides a feasible way to use unimportant additional beams near main beam structures to control their vibration. It is beneficial for effectively utilizing existing engineering structures to carry out the vibration-attenuation design.

Novel Spinning Metamaterial Shaft with Periodic Arrays of Concentrated Masses for Vibration Attenuation at both Low and High Spinning Velocities

The synchronized switch damping (SSD) technique has garnered significant attention for its broadband efficacy and high performance. However, the low circuit quality of the SSD on inductor (SSDI) circuit and the instability issue associated with the SSD on voltage (SSDV) circuit limit their widespread applications. To address these issues, this study proposes an SSD on bias-flip (SSDBF) circuit. By incorporating a bias capacitor, the voltage inversion process is segmented into three phases through different LC loops, significantly enhancing the voltage inversion factor γ. Moreover, the bias voltage autonomously adjusts to the external excitation levels, eliminating the need for auxiliary monitoring and energy sources. A theoretical model and an equivalent circuit model (ECM) are developed to analyze the superiority of the SSDBF circuit across a wide frequency range. Both theoretical and simulation results demonstrate that the SSDBF circuit outperforms the traditional SSDI circuits, particularly in cases with low coupling coefficients and voltage inversion factors, while maintaining self-adaptivity across varying excitation conditions. Finally, experimental results validate the enhanced vibration attenuation and self-adaptivity of the SSDBF circuit, underscoring its great potential as a robust and efficient solution for advanced vibration control in various applications.

Study on Vibration Attenuation and Damage Characteristics of Adjacent Filling Bodies under Blasting Effects.

Abstract In order to effectively attenuate the low-frequency broadband vibration of the plate, this paper proposes a new metamaterial plate with elastic levers attached to the plate. The inertial amplification(IA) mechanism of the lever amplifying the motion of a small mass is coupled with the local resonant(LR) mechanism formed by the vibration of the elastic rod and the mass to achieve low-frequency broadband vibration attenuation. At the same time, the layout of the four levers is centrally symmetrical to eliminate the directionality of the band gap(BG). The low-frequency vibration reduction performance of the proposed IA and LR coupling plate is demonstrated by theoretical calculation and experimental verification. The mechanism of BG generation is elucidated by analyzing the structural vibration modes, and the advantage of low-frequency broadband large attenuation is confirmed by numerical methods. The results show that the proposed IA and LR coupling plate can achieve a wider full BG compared with the LR plate with the same mass attached. In addition, the BG frequency can be adjusted by changing the lever length ratio. By attaching different masses to a pair of parallel rods, the attenuation region can be widened by adjusting the mass parameters.

Vibration attenuation in cross-laminated timber–steel composite floors using loose sand as a passive damping mechanism

Corrugated meta-sandwich structures and mechanism of load-bearing and vibration attenuation

Abstract Vibration control at low frequencies remains a critical challenge in engineering structures. This study introduces eight novel hierarchical lattice metamaterials that integrate reentrant, chiral, and circular geometries within unit cells to achieve unprecedented bandgap properties. A multiobjective genetic algorithm was employed to optimize three key performance criteria: total bandgap width, individual bandgap width, and low-frequency attenuation. The optimized designs exhibited remarkable improvements, with up to 534% increase in cumulative bandgap coverage compared to non-optimized structures. Fabricated via laser cutting, the proposed metamaterials were experimentally validated through transmission measurements, which confirmed their superior vibration suppression. Results demonstrated attenuation of up to ~200 dB across targeted frequency ranges, effectively eliminating vibration transmission in the sub-1000 Hz domain that is traditionally difficult to address. The novelty of this work lies in the systematic geometric hybridization of lattice structures, the integration of optimization-based design, and the experimental confirmation of low-frequency bandgaps. The demonstrated manufacturability and outstanding vibration mitigation performance establish these hybrid reentrant-inspired metamaterials as a practical and scalable solution for structural vibration control. Their potential applications span aerospace, civil infrastructure, precision manufacturing, and other engineering fields where conventional approaches fail to provide effective low-frequency attenuation.

Experimental and numerical study on vibration attenuation performance of 3D printed single-phase metamaterial plate with broad low-frequency complete bandgap

Design and study of honeycomb sandwich metastructures for multi-directional low-frequency broadband vibration attenuation

This paper proposes RailFusion-DAS, a novel method for detecting railway track defects using existing communication fibers in air-filled trenches via distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). Air-coupled fibers exhibit severe vibration attenuation, generating extremely weak signals during train passages. To overcome this challenge, our framework derives multi-kinematic representations (displacement, velocity, acceleration) from raw DAS data. We employ dual-domain processing: CNN-LSTM networks capture temporal defect signatures while variational mode decomposition (VMD) extracts frequency-domain features. Furthermore, an attentional feature fusion mechanism then dynamically integrates these complementary representations, prioritizing diagnostically critical patterns in low-SNR signals. Validated on Zhangjiakou heavy-haul railway trials, RailFusion-DAS consistently achieves an average accuracy of 97.11% in classifying four typical defects of corrugation, unsupported sleepers, rolling contact fatigue, and normal states during random tests. This transforms communication infrastructure into a sensitive monitoring network, enabling cost-effective, long-distance railway maintenance.

Functionally graded porous beam (FGPB) structures are widely used in engineering due to their light weight, high strength, and vibration-damping performance. However, their energy localization and vibration suppression characteristics remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, this study proposes an axially functionally graded porous beam (AFGPB) structure capable of achieving energy localization and suppressing vibration transmission. A semi-analytical model is first developed within the Rayleigh–Ritz framework, using Gaussian functions as basis functions to accurately represent the displacement field. The accuracy of the model is validated by comparing its vibration characteristics with those obtained using the finite element method (FEM). Subsequently, the vibration behavior of double-AFGPB with simply supported boundary constraints is investigated. A series of numerical results are presented in this study to analyze the influence of porosity parameters on the energy localization effect and vibration suppression performance. Results reveal that the porosity power-law index N and truncation coefficient δ play key roles in energy localization and vibration suppression performance. When N ≥ 4, the energy localization effect and the vibration attenuation of the double-AFGPB become more pronounced with increasing N and decreasing δ, particularly in the low-frequency range.