Importance of gravity and friction on the targeted energy transfer of vibro-impact nonlinear energy sink

Abstract

Abstract The effect of gravity and sliding friction on the dynamics around targeted energy transfer of an inclined vibro-impact nonlinear energy sink (VINES) is addressed. The non-smooth dynamics is first formulated in Signorini’s contact law and treated using a Moreau-Jean scheme adapted with an energy-conserving integration method. Exhaustive discussions are then carried out regarding the vibration damping performance of the VINES, as well as their dependence on the underlying vibro-impact induced response regimes, under both transient and steady-state responses. It is demonstrated that gravity is responsible for reducing the energy barrier required for achieving targeted energy transfer in the transient response, or enlarge the existing bandwidth of the effective strongly modulated response (SMR) regimes, which is an equivalent representation of TET in the steady-state response, to improve considerably the overall damping efficiency. Some adverse effects brought by gravity and friction are also reported, and it is found that, when the incline angle or friction coefficient grows large, the bandwidth of SMR reduces again and leads to a deterioration of efficiency. The results open a door for appropriately taking advantage of the gravity into the VINES design to improve its damping performance.