Designs, analysis, and applications of nonlinear energy sinks

Nonlinear energy sink (NES) is an appropriately designed nonlinear oscillator without positive linear stiffness. NES can suppress vibrations over a wide frequency range due to its targeted energy transfer characteristics. Thus, investigations on NES have attracted a lot of attention since a NES was proposed. Designs, analysis, and applications of NESs are still active since different configurations are needed in various practical circumstances. The present work provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art researches on NESs. The work begins with a survey of the generation of a NES and its important vibration control characteristics. The work highlights possible complex dynamics resulting in a NES coupled to a structure. The work also summarizes some significant design on the implements of optimal damping effects and the offsets of NES shortcomings. Then, the work details the applications of NESs in all engineering fields. The concluding remarks suggest further promising directions, such as NESs for multidirectional vibration reduction, NESs with nonlinearities beyond the cubic, potential deterioration caused by a NES, low-cost NESs, NESs for extremely low frequency range, and NESs integrated into active vibration controls. There are 383 references in the review, including some publications of the authors.