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Micro structures of viscoelastic materials (VEM) play an important role in their mechanical properties and energy dissipation capacities. This work shows a mathematical modeling of VEMs considering...

To improve the efficiency of conventional isolation trench and lighten the impact of the excavation on neighbor buildings, a novel high damping isolation trench is proposed. The viscoelastic braces equipped in the high damping isolation trench can dissipate the energy of ground-borne vibration while providing supporting force to ensure the stability of the soil on both sides. According to two actual ancient buildings, two types of high damping isolation trenchs with the plane shape of U and L are designed to solve the potential damages caused by long-term train-induced vibration. First, three-dimensional finite/infinite models based on these two buildings are established, respectively. Then, the energy dissipation characteristics are obtained by experiments. Through calculation, the control effects of the high damping isolation trenchs for these two buildings are investigated. The results indicate that the viscoelastic braces possess high energy dissipation capacity. After setting the high damping isolation trenchs around the structures, even at a small excavation depth, the acceleration and velocity responses of the two buildings are reduced significantly. Furthermore, the selected U-shaped and L-shaped trenches also show superiority compared with the conventional linear-shaped trench in this project.

Magnetorheological damper is a typical semi-active control device. Its output damping force varies with the internal magnetic field, which is a key factor affecting the dynamic performance of the magnetorheological dampers. Existing studies about the magnetic field of magnetorheological dampers are limited to theoretical analysis; thus, this study aims to experimentally explore the complicated magnetic field distribution inside the magnetorheological dampers with multiple coils. First, the magnetic circuit of a three-coil magnetorheological damper was theoretically analyzed and designed, and the finite element model of the three-coil magnetorheological damper was set up to calculate the magnetic induction intensities of the damping gaps in different currents and numbers of coil turns. A three-coil magnetorheological damper embedded with a Hall sensor was then manufactured based on the theoretical and finite element analysis, and internal magnetic field tests under different conditions were carried out to obtain the actual magnetic induction intensities. At last, the magnetic field coupling model of the three-coil magnetorheological damper was proposed by introducing a coupling coefficient to describe the complex magnetic field distribution due to the strong coupling effect of the three coils, and the results calculated by the proposed model agreed well with the finite element analysis and magnetic field test data. The proposed model lays a foundation for the optimal design of the magnetic circuit and the mathematical model of multi-coil magnetorheological dampers.

Viscoelastic (VE) dampers are one of the most promising techniques for reducing vibration in engineering structures caused by earthquakes and wind. This work aims to develop a kind of high-...

In this paper, the application of properties of the second-order output spectrum (SOOS) for nonlinear fault localization in ring type structures is studied. A more general ring type multiple-degree-of-freedom model, which regards nonlinear faults (bolt loosening or fatigue crack) and inherent material or boundary nonlinearities as nonlinear restoring forces, is utilized to describe the nonlinear behavior of ring type structures. Through harmonic excitation analysis and a novel local tuning approach, properties of the SOOS of nonlinear ring type structures are analyzed and clearly demonstrated with examples. Based on these properties, a novel SOOS-based method with a local damage index is proposed for nonlinear fault localization. The effectiveness and feasibility of this novel method are validated with multiple bolt loosening fault localization on a satellite-like structure in experiments and are further illustrated through comparisons with several existing methods.

This paper presents a unique human body inspired passive vibration isolation system with a special coupled nonlinear inertia design. This human body inspired anti-vibration structure with nonlinear inertia consists of a compact X-shaped structure with a horizontally-installed spring system to simulate the functions of legs and muscles, and a compact rotational unit to mimic the arms swinging (or upper body movement) and/or muscle extension-flexion motion during human walking. It is particularly focused on the beneficial nonlinear effect incurred by the rotational unit, including a nonlinear equivalent mass and a very special nonlinear inertia incurred conservative force. It is shown that, the nonlinear properties (in equivalent stiffness, damping and mass simultaneously) can obviously improve the vibration isolation at low frequencies and/or in a broadband frequency range, and increase the stability of the mass center of the overall isolation system during vibration, irrespective of the loading and excitation conditions. The muscle function and swinging arms of human body are for the first time employed with an innovative and simple mechanical design for vibration control and successfully validated by experimental prototypes for their excellent beneficial nonlinear features. This paper presents a unique simple passive and adjustable anti-vibration solution of great potential in extensive engineering applications.

The frequency dependence modeling of viscoelastic (VE) materials faces the challenge of high modeling accuracy over a wide frequency range and double-objective optimization in model paramet...

Inspired by the limb configuration of animals in their jumping and landing motions, a systematic investigation on the properties of a class of bio-inspired vertically asymmetric X-shaped (vaX) structures is carried out to explore the advantage of nonlinear characteristics in practical engineering. The nonlinear properties of two different vaX structures are studied under different constraint conditions. Formulations of the nonlinear vibration frequency and absolute displacement transmissibility of the structures are derived by the method of multiple scales. Considering practical conditions, three different constraints (i.e., (a) the same isolations height and assembling angle; (b) the same total rod length and assembling angle; (c) the same total rod length and isolation height) are summarized in this manuscript. Under these conditions, nonlinear properties including nonlinear vibration frequency, isolation performance and static stiffness are systematically discussed. Furthermore, the influences of the assembling pattern (i.e., normal and reverse assembling) on the isolation performance are investigated in detail. The results reveal that there exists rod-length ratio $$s_{1}$$ such that the nonlinear frequency ratio of the vaX-I vibration system is lowest; the natural frequency of the vaX-I structure is independent of the assembling pattern; however, compared with the normally assembled vaX-I structure, a lower resonant peak of the transmissibility can be obtained for the reverse-assembled structure, which suggests that the nonlinear damping of the vaX-I structure is affected by the assembling pattern. Experiments are carried out to verify the influence of the assembling pattern on the natural frequency and isolation performance of the vaX structures.

Viscoelastic dampers are a kind of energy-dissipation device with good damping performance. They are also extensively utilized in earthquake mitigation for structures in civil engineering. ...

A new kind of magnetorheological elastomer with the matrix of the bromobutyl rubber is developed. The magnetoviscoelasticity properties of the magnetorheological elastomer specimens are investigated with respect to different magnetic fields, displacement amplitudes, and frequencies under sinusoidal loadings. The experimental results show that the shear storage modulus and the loss factor of magnetorheological elastomers increase with the increasing magnetic field, excitation frequency, and the weight fraction of particles, but decrease with the increasing strain amplitude, and the magnetorheological elastomers have a high loss factor which can reach to 0.682. Then, a microphysical model based on the assumption of the chi-square distribution of the distance between adjacent ferromagnetic particles is proposed, which can eliminate the error generated by the assumption of the uniform distribution and describe the magnetorheological effect more exactly. Based on the proposed microphysical model, the magnetoviscoelasticity parameter model is modified to describe the dynamic properties of magnetorheological elastomers. It can be concluded from comparison between the numerical and experimental results that the modified magnetoviscoelasticity parameter model can describe the magnetorheological elastomer’s performance well.

Viscoelastic materials are a kind of representative passive vibration control materials with many applications in civil engineering for earthquake mitigation in building structures, and these materials often serve in a thermo-elastic coupling environment. In this work, a one-dimensional magneto-thermoviscoelastic problem of a single-layer viscoelastic plate is investigated with memory-dependent derivative and nonlocal effect in the context of generalized thermo-elasticity. The plate is placed in a magnetic field, and the upper surface is subjected to a thermal shock. The governing equations for the single-layer plate are formulated considering the time delay and the kernel function of the memory-dependent derivative, nonlocal effect, temperature-dependent properties, and magnetic field. The Laplace transform and its numerical inversion are employed to solve this problem. The nondimensional temperature, displacement, and stress are calculated and presented graphically. Based on the numerical results, the influence of time delay and kernel function of the memory-dependent derivative, nonlocal effect parameters, temperature-dependent properties, and magnetic field parameters on the distributions of the nondimensional temperature, displacement, and stress are discussed.

Hybrid simulation is an advanced structural dynamic experimental method that combines experimental physical models with analytical numerical models. It has increasingly been recognised as a powerful methodology to evaluate structural nonlinear components and systems under realistic operating conditions. One of the barriers for this advanced testing is the lack of flexible software for hybrid simulation using heterogeneous experimental equipment. In this study, an electrodynamic fatigue test machine is made and a MATLAB program is developed for hybrid simulation. Compared with the servo-hydraulic system, electrodynamic fatigue test machine has the advantages of small volume, easy operation and fast response. A hybrid simulation is conducted to verify the flexibility and capability of the whole system whose experimental substructure is one spring brace and numerical substructure is a two-storey steel frame structure. Experimental and numerical results show the feasibility and applicability of the wh...

A unique bio-inspired multi-joint leg-like or limb-like vibration isolation structure is studied by mimicking the skeleton and joint structures of animal legs, and its advantage in passive vibration isolation is systematically investigated. This bio-inspired structure uses several small quadrilateral structures composed by short adjustable rods and a transverse spring to simulate the multi-articulation of animal legs and adopts long rods to simulate the skeleton. The equivalent static stiffness property, loading capacity and dynamic vibration isolation performance of the structure are systematically studied. It is shown that the nonlinear stiffness characteristics of the structure can lead to very excellent vibration isolation capability in the low-frequency band. Different from many existing quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) isolators in the literature, this novel anti-vibration structure can demonstrate superior high static but low dynamic stiffness (HSLDS) property and thus excellent vibration isolation performance, subject to large vibration amplitude. Through adjusting proper structural parameters including the rod-length, assembly angle, spring stiffness and layer number according to the influence of the structural parameters on the nonlinear stiffness property, the new structure can have the optimal vibration isolation performance without sacrificing its loading capacity to meet actual requirements. Especially, the length of long rods which is used to simulate the skeleton can be adjusted to obtain better vibration isolation performance than adjusting other parameters, followed by the adjustment of the parameters of small quadrilateral structures. The analysis of the influence of structural parameters on the vibration isolation performance shows that the symmetry between different layers has an important role in maintaining the characteristic of the HSLDS. The comparison with other existing vibration isolation structures of the QZS property also indicates that, the new vibration isolation structure can have a better vibration isolation performance with relatively a smaller size of the overall structure. Experiments are successfully conducted and validated the beneficial nonlinear properties of the structure. This novelbio-inspired anti-vibration structure would have great advantages in practical engineering applications.

The analytical method of the structures incorporated with magnetorheological (MR) dampers, including the elastic analysis and elasto-plastic analysis, is introduced. In this chapter, taking the building structure with MR dampers as an example, the models of the structure and dampers will be discussed. Finally, the dynamic response analysis method based on SIMULINK is introduced.

The magnetorheological (MR) damper, a shock absorption device, can be used to reduce vibration or dynamic response of controlled systems. Its parameters can be adjusted in real-time by updating its control current, therefore, it is critical to determine the control current of the MR damper accurately and quickly. This study proposes a fuzzy control strategy based on a neural network forecasting model of the building structure with MR dampers, in which a neural network forecasting model is developed to predict dynamic responses of the system with MR dampers and a fuzzy controller is then designed to determine control currents of MR dampers. A five-floor steel structure with MR dampers using the proposed fuzzy control strategy is simulated by using Simulink. Simulation results of the fuzzy control system are compared with those of the bi-state control system, the passive-on control system, the passive-off control system, and the uncontrolled system. Analysis results demonstrate that the fuzzy control strategy can determine control currents of MR dampers accurately and quickly; furthermore, the fuzzy control strategy reduces seismic responses of structures more effectively than the passive-on control strategy, the passive-off control strategy, and the bi-state control strategy.

Magnetorheological (MR) damper has a potential use in the vibration control of large structures due to its lower energy input and fine earthquake mitigation ability. A key problem for controlling structure with MR dampers is choosing the control current quickly and accurately. In order to solve this problem, a new method by using fuzzy controller, namely fuzzy full-state control method, is proposed. Dynamic responses under different inputs of fuzzy controller are compared. At the same time, dynamic responses of the traditional bi-state (BS) controlled structure and the passive full-current (PFC) controlled structure under different earthquake waves are compared with those of fuzzy full-state controlled structure. Through a numerical example about a three-story reinforced concrete structure, it can be concluded that fuzzy control technique can realize choosing of currents of MR dampers quickly and accurately and have good control effect.