Magnetic negative stiffness dampers

This communication presents the design principle and experimental validation of two novel configurations of magnetic negative stiffness dampers (MNSDs), both of which are composed of several permanent magnets arranged in a conductive pipe. The MNSD, as a passive device, efficiently integrates negative stiffness and eddy-current damping in a simple and compact design, in which the negative stiffness behavior depends on the different arrangements of the permanent magnets. When applied to structural vibration control, passive MNSD may achieve a performance comparable with semi-active or active control in some applications. Laboratory experiments of small-scale prototypes successfully verified the proposed MNSD design concept.