Design of an adaptive–passive dynamic vibration absorber composed of a string–mass system equipped with negative stiffness tension adjusting mechanism

In this study, a new adaptive–passive dynamic vibration absorber design is discussed. The proposed design is composed of a string under variable tension with a central mass attachment as an undamped dynamic vibration absorber (DVA), a negative stiffness mechanism as a string tension adjustment aid and a tuning controller to make it adaptive. The dependency of the natural frequencies of this system on the string tension is determined analytically and verified using the finite element method. It is analytically shown that with the help of a negative stiffness element, the tuning force requirement is almost zero throughout the whole operation range. A string tension adjustment algorithm is proposed, which tunes the DVA system depending on the magnitude and frequency of the most dominant component of the vibration signal. Finally, a prototype of the system is built and a series of experiments are conducted on the prototype that validate the analytical and numerical calculations. ► We introduce a new adaptive dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) design. ► The DVA consists of a string under variable tension with a central mass attachment. ► A negative stiffness mechanism is utilized to minimize tuning actuator effort. ► Analytically, numerically and experimentally obtained frequency responses match. ► Experimental results show that the DVA can adapt to varying excitation conditions.