Theoretical and experimental studies of a novel nested oscillator with a high-damping characteristic

Stiffness and damping of a structure usually show the opposite change so that the resonant frequency and the static load bearing capacity of a mechanical system often exhibit contradiction. To solve this dilemma, a novel high-damping oscillator which is constructed by a nested diamond structure with the purpose of enhancing the damping property is proposed in this study without reducing the overall systematic stiffness. The mathematical model and geometrical relationships are established at first. And then, the steady-state solutions under base excitation are derived by using the harmonic balance method and further verified by numerical simulation. In addition, the effects of some design parameters on the equivalent damping ratio for the high-damping oscillator are studied to reveal the nonlinear characteristic. Besides, the natural frequency of the nonlinear oscillator is also presented and investigated. By using the displacement transmissibility and comparing with the traditional linear isolator with the same overall stiffness, the vibration suppression performance of the high-damping oscillator is addressed. The obtained calculating results demonstrate that the vibration control performance of the high-damping oscillator outperforms the linear counterpart around resonant frequency. Moreover, the influences of systematic parameters of the high-damping oscillator for the base excitation case on the vibration transmissibility are also discussed, respectively. Finally, an experimental campaign is conducted on an in-house-built test rig to corroborate the accuracy of the analytical solutions of the high-damping oscillation system. The results discussed in this study provide a useful guideline, which can help to design this class of high-damping oscillation system.