Abstract
Tunable vibration neutralisers are currently used to control harmonic vibration of structures at the point at which they are attached, and the way in which the characteristics of the neutralisers influence their effectiveness in this role are reasonably well understood. However, the use of tunable vibration neutralisers to control global vibration of a structure has not been so well explored, and in this article the neutraliser parameters that influence the vibrational kinetic energy of a host structure are highlighted. It is shown that in general a de-tuned rather than a tuned vibration neutraliser is required at most frequencies, offering a stiffness-like or a mass-like impedance to the structure. However, because this control strategy requires a measure of the global vibration of the host structure, which can be difficult and/or costly in practice, it is preferable to use a tuned vibration neutraliser. For this to be effective it is demonstrated that the tuned neutraliser needs to be appropriately positioned on the structure. If this is the case then such a device can be almost as effective as a de-tuned neutraliser over quite a wide range of frequencies.