Abstract

We investigate shock isolation designs based on nonlinear
energy pumping caused by piecewise stiffness elements. In
particular, we numerically study the shock isolation properties
of a primary linear system of two coupled non-conservative
oscillators with weakly coupled attachments possessing
clearance nonlinearities. Under shock excitation the nonlinear
attachments (termed nonlinear energy sinks – NESs) can be
designed to absorb a significant portion of the input energy,
thus enhancing the shock isolation performance of the primary
system. In contrast to the classical linear vibration absorber
whose operation is restricted to narrowband frequency ranges,
the NESs are capable of efficiently absorbing energies caused
by transient broadband disturbances, a feature that facilitates
their implementation in practical applications. Moreover, the
non-smooth nonlinearities considered in this work are easily
implementable since they are realized by means of linear
stiffness elements.