Experimental evidence of energy transfer and vibration mitigation in a vibro-impact acoustic black hole

An experimental demonstration of the broadband passive damping capacity of a vibro-impact acoustic black hole (VI-ABH) is reported. A VI-ABH is an adaptation of the classical ABH design consisting of a beam with a tapered edge of decreasing thickness creating an acoustic black hole (ABH), complemented by contact points on which the beam impacts during its vibration. The contact nonlinearity creates a rapid and efficient transfer of vibrational energy from the low-frequency range, where the ABH is known to be ineffective, to the high-frequency range, thus improving the global passive vibration mitigation characteristics. The optimal design of a VI-ABH follows the rule of locating the contact points at local maxima of the low-frequency modes. Experiments clearly demonstrate the gain in performance, both in forced and free vibrations. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

An experimental demonstration is reported regarding the broadband passive damping capacity of a vibro-impact acoustic black hole (VI-ABH). The optimal design of VI-ABH can efficiently improve global passive vibration mitigation characteristics by transferring vibrational energy from low-frequency to high-frequency range.