Vibration suppression and higher branch responses of beam with parallel nonlinear energy sinks

The effects of nonlinear energy sink (NES) on vibration suppression of a simply supported beam are investigated in this work. The slow flow equations of the system are derived by using complexification–averaging method, and the validity of the derivation is verified. By comparing the vibration absorption of single and parallel NESs of equal mass, it is found that the latter exhibits superior vibration absorption performance. In addition, the parallel NES can eliminate higher branch responses of the system under the harmonic load. Furthermore, it is found that parallel NES can eliminate the higher branches of the system more effectively by tuning nonlinear stiffness and damping. Moreover, the thermal effect on natural frequencies of the simply supported beam is considered, and the influences of the parallel NES’s parameters on the energy dissipation rate under shock load are investigated. The nonlinear responses of the simply supported beam with parallel NES under harmonic load and with the increase of temperature are described.