Frequency adaptivity and low-frequency characteristics of tumbler-inspired dynamic vibration absorbers

Dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs) are effective in transferring vibration under the target frequency from host structures in engineering applications. However, they are strongly frequency sensitive and will lose their performance when the frequency is detuned. This study proposes a tumbler-inspired dynamic vibration absorber (T-DVA) to overcome the drawback and obtain the frequency adaptivity and low-frequency vibration absorption characteristics. The theoretical model of T-DVA is established with the Lagrange equation and the amplitude-response is determined. The effects of the eccentricity, moment of inertia, radius ratio of the tumbler, the mass ratio, and damping ratio on the vibration absorption performance are evaluated numerically and experimentally. T-DVA can effectively realize low-frequency vibration absorption around 5.5 Hz, and exhibits excellent frequency adaptation characteristics specifically when the frequency ratio varies from 0.25 to 1. Furthermore, the low-frequency vibration absorption performance can be improved through parameter optimization using genetic algorithms. This study provides an alternative solution for achieving frequency adaptivity of low-frequency vibration absorption.