Three-Element Vibration Absorber–Inerter for Passive Control of Single-Degree-of-Freedom Structures

In this study, a novel passive vibration control device, the three-element vibration absorber–inerter (TEVAI) is proposed. Inerter-based vibration absorbers, which utilize a mass that rotates due to relative translational motion, have recently been developed to take advantage of the potential high inertial mass (inertance) of a relatively small mass in rotation. In this work, a novel configuration of an inerter-based absorber is proposed, and its effectiveness at suppressing the vibration of a single-degree-of-freedom system is investigated. The proposed device is a development of two current passive devices: the tuned-mass-damper–inerter (TMDI), which is an inerter-base tuned mass damper (TMD), and the three-element dynamic vibration absorber (TEVA). Closed-form optimization solutions for this device connected to a single-degree-of-freedom primary structure and loaded with random base excitation are developed and presented. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this novel device, in comparison to the traditional TMD, TEVA, and TMDI, is also investigated. The results of this study demonstrate that the TEVAI possesses superior performance in the reduction of the maximum and root-mean-square (RMS) response of the underlying structure in comparison to the TMD, TEVA, and TMDI.