Nonlinear energy transfer from an engine crankshaft to an essentially nonlinear attachment

Abstract

This study proposes an application of lightweight vibration control strategy known as nonlinear energy sink (NES) to mitigate the undesired vibrations in engine crankshaft systems. Linear vibration absorbers have long been used to suppress undesired vibrations. These devices can be tuned to reduce vibrations at a single frequency while adding extra inertia to the powertrain system. On the contrary, the NES is a lightweight vibration energy absorber. The presence of essential nonlinearity in the NES design provides the means for realization of irreversible targeted energy transfer (TET) from the primary system to the NES and attenuation of energy over a wide range of frequencies. This study introduces the conditions critical to achieve TET through its mathematical analysis and understanding the dynamical mechanisms governing this phenomenon in a strongly nonlinear transient dynamical system.