Passive vibration control: a structure–immittance approach

Linear passive vibration absorbers, such as tuned mass dampers, often contain springs, dampers and masses, although recently there has been a growing trend to employ or supplement the mass elements with inerters. When considering possible configurations with these elements broadly, two approaches are normally used: one structure-based and one immittance-based. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, a new approach is proposed: the structure-immittance approach. Using this approach, a full set of possible series-parallel networks with predetermined numbers of each element type can be represented by structural immittances, obtained via a proposed general formulation process. Using the structural immittances, both the ability to investigate a class of absorber possibilities together (advantage of the immittance-based approach), and the ability to control the complexity, topology and element values in resulting absorber configurations (advantages of the structure-based approach) are provided at the same time. The advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated through two case studies on building vibration suppression and automotive suspension design, respectively.