Theoretical and Numerical–Experimental Investigation on Vibration Suppression of Finite-Length Locally Resonant Cylindrical Shells with Linear and Nonlinear Absorbers

This paper investigates vibration suppression of finite-length cylindrical shells using linear locally resonant absorbers and nonlinear energy sinks (NESs). A theoretical model is first established for a finite-length locally resonant cylindrical shell equipped with periodically distributed linear cantilever-beam absorbers based on Flügge’s thin shell theory. By combining the modal superposition method and the harmonic balance method, analytical expressions for the vibration responses and average velocity levels of the cylindrical shell are derived. The theoretical model is validated by finite element simulations, and the locally resonant bandgap characteristics are further analyzed. Parametric studies are conducted to clarify the effects of absorber length, thickness, width, and distribution density on the bandgap position, bandgap width, and vibration attenuation performance. On this basis, nonlinear energy sinks are introduced as an additional broadband vibration suppression strategy and investigated through experiments and COMSOL transient simulations. The experimental results show that the NESs effectively suppress resonance peaks near the bandgap edges and improve broadband vibration attenuation. Furthermore, transient simulations under different excitation amplitudes demonstrate the excitation-amplitude-dependent response characteristics of the NESs, indicating enhanced nonlinear energy transfer under higher excitation levels. The results provide theoretical guidance for the design of finite-length locally resonant cylindrical shells and further verify the broadband vibration suppression capability of nonlinear energy sinks through experimental and numerical investigations.