LECTURE 4

VIBRATION MITIGATION TECHNIQUES:

THEORY AND APPLICATION

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TOPICS TO BE COVERED……
Energy dissipation - dynamic vibration absorbers

Stockbridge Vibration absorber on power transmission lines

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 Tuned Mass Damper in the Building Taipei
Tuned mass dampers beneath the 101, Taiwan. The DVA consists of a
bridge platform on the Millennium pendulum with a mass of 730 tons
Bridge in London. suspended with 4 cables extending over 4
floors.
 Some practical examples of dynamic vibration absorber showed

Dynamic vibration absorber in steel stack Dynamic vibration absorber PCB

Investmech designs and manufactures dynamic absorbers (damped and undamped,

depending on application) for vibration control due to resonance. Investmech
successfully applied this technology to control vibration of linkages, floors and roof
elements. The dynamic vibration absorber is fine tuned in the Investmech4 test
laboratory to ensure efficient control of vibration at resonance.
Implementations

Tuned mass dampers are mainly used in the following applications:

The vibration absorber has been used in many application since it was invented in
1909.

Tall and slender free-standing giant structures

• Skyscrapers
• Bridges
• Chimneys
• TV towers
• Pedestrian bridges
Large moving structures
• Control of noise in aircraft cabin
• Control of rolling motion of ships
Applications range also for small handheld tools
Chatter control of cutting tools
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Control of torsional oscillation of crankshaft
Dynamic Vibration Absorber

• Vibration absorber is a spring-mass-damper system added to a device to protect it

from steady state harmonic disturbance.

• It has been shown that under certain conditions, the amplitude of vibration of the
mass that is being excited can be reduced to zero, while the second mass continues
to vibrate.

• If a particular system is having large vibrations under its excitation, this vibration
can be eliminated by coupling a properly designed auxiliary spring-mass system to
the main system. This forms the principle of undamped dynamic vibration
absorber where the excitation is finally transmitted to the auxiliary system,
bringing the main system to rest. 6
Dynamic Vibration Absorber (DVA)
• The major effect of adding the second mass-spring system is to change from single
degree of freedom system to a two degree of freedom system. The new system has
two natural frequencies. The value of the absorber mass and stiffness are chosen
such that the motion of the original mass is a minimum. This is accompanied by
substantial motion of the added absorber system.
DVAs are generally of three types

• Vibration Neutralizer : Here, a secondary mass is connected to the primary using a

spring element.

• Auxiliary Mass Damper : Here the secondary mass is connected to the primary by
a damper/dashpot.

• Dynamic Vibration Absorber: A general case where both spring and damper are
used to connect the secondary mass, with the primary system.
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Damped Dynamic Vibration Absorbers

Used to eliminate vibration of an object

Vibration Absorber

Choose these to 

eliminate motion of
object.



Object
 vibrates too
(that

much)





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Dynamic Vibration Absorber
A vibration absorber is used to protect the primary system from steady-state harmonic
disturbance. By attaching the absorber to the primary system which is modeled as a
SDOF system, the new system becomes a two DOF system as shown in the model
below. Depending on the driving frequency of the original system, the absorber needs
to be carefully tuned, that is, to choose adequate values of absorber mass, stiffness and
damping coefficient, so that the motion of the original mass is a minimum.

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• The 2-DOF system has two natural frequencies, corresponding to the two natural
modes of vibration for the system. In the lower frequency mode both masses move
in the same direction, in-phase with each other. In the higher frequency mode the
two masses move in opposite direction, 180° out of phase with each other.

• The animation above shows the motion of the 2-DOF system at normalized forcing
frequencies of fleft=0.67 (in-phase mode), fmiddle=1 (undamped classical tuned
dynamic absorber), and fright=1.3 (opposite-phase mode). The arrows in the movie
represent the magnitude and phase of the force applied to the main mass. 10
Undamped Dynamic/ Frahm Vibration Absorber

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X=0 implies that the primary system comes to rest, after tuning
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Material used in vibration dampers:
Metal, polymers, cement and their composites. Metal and polymer are dominant due to
their viscoelasticity. Damping enhancement mainly involves micro-structural design for
metals, interface design for polymers and admixture use for cement.

Metals:
• SMA’s
• Ferromagnetic alloys provide damping through magneto-mechanical mechanism
i.e. movement of magnetic domain in boundaries during vibration.
• Other alloys provide damping through micro-structural design. It is used due to
their low cost.

Polymers:
Due to their viscoelastic behavior, polymers (particularly thermoplastics) can provide
damping ability. Polymer used for damping rubber, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE),
polyurethane, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, polyimide or other polymer network.
In general, elastomer and other amorphous thermoplastics with a glass transition
temperature below room temperature are attractive for damping. Polymer blends and
interpenetrating networks are also attractive, due to the interface between the
components in the blend or network providing a mechanism for damping. In relation to
fibrous structural composites, viscoelastic polymeric interlayer's between the laminae
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of continuous fibers are often used for damping.
Polymers: However, the presence of the interlayer degrades the stiffness of the
composite, particularly when the temperature is high. The use of 0.1 μm-diameter
carbon filaments in place of the viscoelastic interlayer alleviates this problem and is
particularly attractive when the temperature is high.

Figure shows effect of temperature on loss modulus of continuous carbon fiber

thermoplastic-matrix composite (longitudinal configuration) at 0.2 Hz. a) Composite
without interlayer. b) Composite with viscoelastic interlayer. c) Composite with treated
carbon filament interlayer.
Figure above shows the loss modulus of continuous carbon fiber polymer- matrix
composites. The composite with the viscoelastic interlayer exhibits a higher value of
the loss modulus than that with the composite with a filament interlayer at 25 degree
Celsius, but the reverse occurs at 50 degree Celsius. Both composites are superior to
the composite without interlayer. The large amount of interface between the 0.1 μm-
diameter filaments and the polymer matrix contributes to damping. A related
application involves sandwiching a high damping polymeric layer between steel layers
in laminated steel. 17
Viscous/ Viscoelastic Passive Control Devices: Example is fluid in a cylinder with
piston having an orifice. These can also be semi-active (eg., variable orifice, variable
viscosity). Used in earthquake and wind applications.
Internal Tube Vibration Absorber
Internal tube vibration absorbers are used in hollow drive shafts. The component shown
here is pressed into the shaft of a front-wheel drive where it serves to reduce this shaft's
flexural vibration. The resulting reduction in noise and vibrations makes for a
noticeable improvement in the vehicle interior.

The component can be installed before welding the end piece on and applying the
corrosion protection. The elastomer spring for this is made from a high-temperature-
resistant material. The silicone rubber used has an exceptionally high material damping
characteristic to keep the secondary resonances low. The particular advantage of the
internal type, protected from environmental influences, is its minimal space
requirements and the possibility of optimally positioning the absorber in the shaft's
vibration loop. 18
Fabsorb™ material absorbs machine-induced energy, limits the transmission of higher
frequency disturbances and provides isolation from ambient and induced shock and
vibration, which otherwise would affect the accuracy of the machine being installed.

Fabsorb material is specifically designed for vibration isolation applications of support

foundations for machine tools, shock testing equipment, grinders and similar
equipment.

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Effect of TMD on Vibrations

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Difference between isolator and absorbers

Passive Vibration Undamped Absorbers is a two degree

of freedom device

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Application of Isolators

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Undamped Forced Vibrations with Harmonic Excitation

When a harmonic forcing function acts on a system, the solutions

consist of the transient part and steady state part. In the steady
state part the vibrations of any point in the system take place at the
frequency of excitation. It will be shown in the analysis that
resonance in the system will occur when the exciting frequency
equals any of the natural frequencies of the system.
Consider the system shown in figure with exciting force F0 sin ωt
acting on mass m1. The differential equation of motion for the two

masses will be : [m1 x1  (k1  k2 ) x1 ]  [k2 x2 ]  F0 sin t

[k2 x1 ]  [m2 x 2  (k2  k3 ) x2 ]  0
For the case of no damping in the system each mass will be either
in phase or out of phase with exciting force. Let us then assume,
for the steady state, the solution as: x 1  X 1 sin ωt
x 2  X 2 sin ωt
Substituting these term in equation and cancelling out term sin(ωt), we have
[-m 1 ω 2  (k 1  k 2 )]X 1  k 2 X 2  F0
k 2 X 1  [  m 2 ω 2  (k 2  k 3 )]X 2 0 23
 Solving for X1 and X 2 from the above two equations, we get

X1 
k
 k 3  m 2 ω 2 F0
2 

m1m 2 ω 4   m1 (k 2  k 3 )  m 2  k1  k 2  ω 2  k1k 2  k 2 k 3  k 3k1 
k 2 F0
X2 
 m1m 2 ω 4   m1 (k 2  k 3 )  m 2  k1  k 2  ω 2  k1k 2  k 2 k 3  k 3 k1 
The above two equations give the steady state amplitude of vibration of the two masses
respectively, as a function of ω.
Numerator of X1 vanishes when   (k 2  k 3 )/m 2 , thereby making the mass m1
motionless at this frequency. No such stationary condition exists for mass m 2 . The
fact that mass which is being excited can have zero amplitude of vibration under
certain conditions by coupling it to another spring - mass system forms the principle
of dynamic vibration absorbers which wil l be discussed in next slides.

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Vibration Absorbers

In previous article, it has been shown that under certain conditions, the amplitude of
vibration of the mass that is being excited can be reduced to zero, while second mass
continues to vibrate. If a particular system is having large vibration under its excitation,
this vibration can be eliminated by coupling a properly designed auxiliary spring-mass
system to the main system. This forms the principle of undamped dynamic vibration
absorber where excitation is finally transmitted to the auxiliary system, bringing the
main system to rest.

Undamped Absorber is extremely effective at one speed only and thus is suitable only
for constant speed machines.

Damped Dynamic Absorber can take care of the entire frequency range of excitation
but at the cost of reduced effectiveness.

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Undamped Dynamic Vibration Absorber

Consider a two degree of freedom system, it is

different from previous system in that no spring
k3.
So k1-m1 as main system and k2-m2 as absorber
system.
We can write the equation for X1 and X 2 from previous slides expression by putting
k 3  0 in those equations.
X1 

k 2  m 2 ω2 F0 

m1m 2ω4   m1k 2  m 2  k1  k 2  ω2  k1k 2 
k 2 F0
X2 
 m1m 2ω4   m1k 2  m 2  k1  k 2  ω2  k1k 2 
To bring these equations into dimensionless forms, let as divide their numerators
and denominators by k1k 2 and introduce the following notations :
X st  F0 k1  zero frequency deflection of first mass,
ω1  k1 m1  natural frequency of the main system alone,
ω2  k 2 m 2  natural frequency of the absorber system alone,
μ  m 2 m1  ratio of the absorber mass to the main mass
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Equations then can be written in dimensionless form as,
 2 
 1  2 
X1  2 
`
X st 4  2 2 
  1    2  2   1
1  2 
2 2
1  2 
X2 1
`
X st 4  2 2 
  1    2  2   1
1  2 
2 2
1  2 
Equation above clearly shows that X 1  0 when ω  ω 2 ;
Let what happens to X 2 :
F0
X st k1
X2   
ω2
2
m 2 k 2 m1
μ 2 . .
ω1 m1 m 2 k1
i.e. X 2   F0 /k 2
or F0   k 2 X 2
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The above equation shows that the spring force k 2 X 2 on the main mass due to the
ampiltude X 2 of the absorber mass is equal and opposite to the exciting force on
the main mass resulting in no motion of the main system. The main system vibrations
have been reduced to zero and these vibrations have been taken by the absorber
system. Hence the name vibration absorber.
Addition of a vibration absorber to main system is not much meaningful unless the
main system is operating at resonance or at least near it. Under these conditions we
have ω=ω1. But for absorber to be effective, we already have ω2=ω.

When this condition is fulfilled, the absorber is known as tuned absorber.

So for a tuned absorber, equation now become:
2
1 2
X1 2
 4
X st  2
 (2   ) 2  1
24
2
X2 1
 4
X st  2
 (2   ) 2  1
24
2 28
A compromise is always made between the amplitude and the mass ratio µ. The mass
ratio is usually kept between 0.05 to 0.25. A proper design of absorber spring is also
necessary which depends upon its amplitude and available space.

Denominators of last equations are identical. At a value of ω when these

denominators are zero, the two masses have infinite amplitudes of vibration. As the
expression for the denominators is a quadratic in square of ω and therefore there
are two values of ω for which these expression vanish. These two frequencies are
the resonant frequencies of system, all the points in the system have infinite
amplitudes of vibration or the system is in resonance.

To find resonant frequencies of system we equate denominators equal to zero.

4 2
   
   (2   )   1  0
 2   2 

2
     2
Solution is    1     
 2   2  4

This relationship is plotted in figure v/s 
2 29
From this plot we see that greater
the mass ratio , greater is the spread
between the two resonant
frequencies. Thus depending upon
the variation of the exciting
frequency, the spread between the
resonant frequencies has to be
decided so that we do not come near
resonant point.

After deciding the spread between

the resonant frequencies, the proper
value of μ can be obtained from the
curve.
Dimensionless frequency response
curve for the main system is shown in
figure for a value of μ=0.20.

The dotted curve shown actually mean

that the amplitude is negative or its
phase difference with respect to the 30
exciting force is 180 degree.
Now if the exciting frequency is absolutely
constant, the system will work fine; if the
exciting frequency, which is governed by the
speed of the machine, is not constant but varies
somewhat with changes in load, then any
changes in exciting frequency will shift the
operating points from the optimum point and
the main system response will no longer be
zero.

We also see that by adding the vibration

absorber we have introduced two resonant
points instead of one in the original system.
These two resonant points are spread on either
side of the original resonant point
corresponding to the main system alone. Now
if the variation of the exciting frequency is
such that the operating point shifts near one of
the new resonant points then we are in trouble
again.
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As in thecase of rectilinear vibrations discussedso far, a torsionalvibrationabsorber
can be used to eliminateor reduce the torsionaloscillations of a system.

The schematic arrangement is shown in figure in which k t1 and J1 represent the main
system and k t 2 and J 2 represent the absorber system. All the discussion for the recti -
linear vibration absorbed holds good for this case also.

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TMD for Skyscraper

• Largest Tuned Massed Damper (TMD) in the world-730 tons and 5.5 m diameter

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TMD on Different Structures

IN BRIDGES IN STADIUM

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Other Skyscrapers with TMD’s

• Citicrop Centre, New York

• John Hancock Tower, Boston
• CN Tower, Toronto
• Chiba Port Tower, Japan
• The worlds largest building in present the BURZ KHALIFA is equipped
with 11 different TMD’S to control the vibrations.

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Advantages & Disadvantages of TMD

Advantages Disadvantages
• They do not depend on an external • A large mass or a large space is
power source for their operation. needed for their installation.
• They can respond to small level of • The effectiveness of a tuned mass
excitation. damper is constrained by the
• Their properties can be adjusted in maximum weight that can be
the field. practically placed on top of the
• They can also be introduced in structure
upgrading structure.
• Their effectiveness depends on the
• They require low maintenance.
accuracy of their tuning, but natural
• They can be cost effective.
frequencies of a structure cannot be
predicted with great accuracy.

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