ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 9

Jaffe B, Cook R, Jaffe H (1971) Piezoelectric Ceramics.

New York: Academic.
Lee-Glauser G, Juang J-N, Sulla JL (1995) Optimal active
vibration absorber: Design and experimental results.
Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 117:165171.

Sun JQ, Jolly MR, Norris MA (1995) Passive, adaptive,

and active tuned vibration absorbers. Trans. ASME
Combined Anniversary Issue Journal of Mechanical
Design and Journal of Vibration and Acoustics,
117(B):23442.

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION
V Steffen, Jr and D Rade, Federal University of
Uberlandia, Uberlandia, Brazil
Copyright # 2001 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwvb.2001.0176

Introduction
Dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs), also called
Vibration Neutralizers or Tuned Mass Dampers, are
mechanical appendages comprising inertia, stiffness,
and damping elements which, once connected to a
given structure or machine, named herein the primary
system, are capable of absorbing the vibratory energy
at the connection point. As a result, the primary
system can be protected from excessively high vibration levels. In practice, DVAs can be included in the
original system design or can be added to an existing
system, often as part of a remedial course of action.
Since their invention by Frahm at the beginning of
the twentieth century, dynamic vibration absorbers
have been extensively used to mitigate vibrations in
various types of mechanical systems. A very wellknown application is the so-called Stockbridge damper, widely used to reduce wind-induced vibrations in
overhead power transmission lines. In a remarkable
engineering application, a 400-ton absorber has been
designed for Citicorp Center, a 274-m high office
building in New York City, for suppressing primarily
the contribution of the first vibration mode in windinduced oscillations. In a similar application, two
300-ton DVAs have been installed in the John Hancock Tower, in Boston, Massachussets. The dynamics
of television towers are particularly favorable for the
use of pendulum-like DVAs, which have been
applied, for example, to the towers of Alma-Ata
and Riga, in the former Soviet Union.
Due to their technological relevance both in the
academic and industrial domains, DVAs are still a
subject of permanent interest. New applications
include devices used to stabilize ship roll motion, to

improve the comfort of users when walking on pedestrian bridges, to attenuate vibrations transmitted
from the main rotor to the cockpit of helicopters,
and to improve machine tool operation conditions, to
mention just a few examples. Military applications
have also been developed. The use of DVAs to reduce
the dynamic forces transmitted to an aircraft due to
high rates of fire imposed on the canon motion can be
mentioned as another example.
In practical applications, DVAs can be found in
various configurations, intended for the attenuation
of either rectilinear or angular motion. The simplest
setup is that formed by a single mass attached to the
primary system through a linear spring. This configuration is named the `undamped dynamic vibration
absorber'. As will be shown later, in designing an
undamped DVA to attenuate harmonic vibrations,
the values of its physical parameters (stiffness and
inertia) must be chosen according to the value of the
excitation frequency and it is then said that the DVA
is tuned. The undamped DVA may become ineffective
when the excitation frequency deviates, even slightly,
from the nominal tuning frequency. In order to provide a mechanism for energy dissipation and to
enlarge the effective bandwidth of the absorber,
damping can be introduced into the DVA. In most
applications, a viscous damping model is used,
although viscoelastic and Coulomb-type dampers
can be found in certain cases. In general, a DVA is
designed to attenuate vibrations generated by a
purely harmonic excitation. However, in several
situations, vibrations are produced by periodic forces
containing various harmonic components. In this
case, multiple DVAs can be used, each one tuned to
a specific frequency component. It is also possible to
use distributed-parameter structural elements, such as
beams or plates, as dynamic absorbers. Besides the
ease of physical realization, the main interest in
using these configurations is related to the fact that
the DVA can be tuned to various frequency values
simultaneously.

10 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

All the configurations mentioned above form the

class of `passive' DVAs, defined as those containing
exclusively passive, time-independent, components.
For this type of absorber, tuning can be achieved
only by physically constructing inertia, stiffness and
damping elements with adequate values. When the
excitation frequency changes, which is likely to occur
in many cases, the absorber becomes mistuned and
less effective. To overcome this limitation, active
DVAs have been developed. Besides the passive elements, they contain an actuator which applies a
control force calculated according to an adequate
control law. This strategy provides self-tuning capability to the DVA, over a finite frequency band.
In the following sections the basic theory of passive
and active dynamic vibration absorbers are presented, as well as some special configurations.

Undamped Dynamic Vibration

Absorbers

f t F0 e

Using Newton's laws, the following equations of

motion are obtained for the two-degree-of-freedom
system, in terms of the coordinates defined in Figure 1:

mp xp kp ka xp ka xa f

2b

The steady-state harmonic responses are written:

xp t Xp eiot

3a

xa t Xa eiot

3b

Upon substitution of eqns [3] in eqns [2], the following set of frequency-dependent algebraic equations
involving the amplitudes of the harmonic responses is
obtained:

Xp mp o2 kp ka ka Xa F0

4a

ka Xp Xa ma o2 ka 0

4b

Solving eqns [4], the following expression is obtained

for the amplitudes:

Figure 1 illustrates an undamped two-degree-of-freedom system, where the subsystem (mp ; kp ) represents
the primary system, whose vibrations are to be attenuated, and the subsystem (ma ; ka ) represents the
dynamic vibration absorber. The primary system is
assumed to be excited by an external harmonic force
with constant amplitude and constant circular frequency, given by:
iot

ma xa ka xa xp 0

2a

Xp


Xp st

i
1 o=oa 2
h
i 



2 ih
1 o=oa 2 ka kp
1 ka kp o op
5a

Xa


Xp st

1
i 



2 ih
1 ka kp o op
1 o=oa 2 ka kp
5b

where:
s
op

Figure 1 Schematic representation of an undamped DVA

connected to a primary system.

kp
mp

r


oa

ka
ma

F0
Xp st
kp

are, respectively, the natural frequency of the primary

system, the natural frequency of the absorber, when
both are considered as separate single-degree-offreedom systems, and the static displacement of the
primary mass.
In eqn [5a], it can be seen that the amplitude Xp
vanishes when the excitation frequency o coincides
with the natural frequency of the DVA, oa. In this
situation, the amplitude of the response of the DVA
mass is obtained by introducing Xp 0 in eqn [4a]:

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 11

Xa jooa

F0
ka

In eqn [7] the minus sign indicates that there is a

phase shift of 1808 between the excitation force and
the response of the DVA mass. Figure 2 illustrates
the variation of Xp with o, according to eqn [5a]. It
can be seen that an antiresonance is generated at
o oa . Thus, to achieve complete attenuation of
harmonic vibrations with a given frequency o, the
values of the inertia and stiffness parameters of the
undamped
DVA must be selected so as to satisfy
p
o ka =ma . Figure 2 also shows the amplitudes
of the response of the primary system without the
DVA. It can be seen that with the addition of the
DVA, two resonance peaks are generated in the
frequency response and vibration reduction is
achieved only within the frequency band limited by
points A and B. Since this bandwidth is generally
small, even slight modifications in the forcing frequency and/or in the DVA parameters can lead to a
significant decrease in the attenuation capability of
the absorber. This is the major drawback of the
undamped DVAs.
At this point, the following comments are made
regarding the practical design of undamped DVAs. In
any physical realization, the interest is to have a DVA
with a small mass. This means that the mass ratio,
defined as m ma =mp should be kept as small as

possible (values of m up to 5 percent are generally

acceptable). However, eqns [6b] and [7] state that
small values of the secondary mass correspond to
small values of the DVA stiffness and high amplitude
of vibration of the secondary mass. This last fact has
direct implication in the fatigue life of the resilient
element of the DVA.
In many circumstances the interest is to reduce the
amplitude of vibration of the primary system in the
vicinity of its resonance frequency. In these cases, the
DVA must be tuned so that its natural frequency
coincides with the natural frequency of the primary
system, that is:
kp
ka

ma mp

In this case, eqns [5] can be rewritten in terms of

dimensionless parameters, as follows:
X
1 g2
p

Xp st 1 g2 1 g2 m m

9a

X
1
a

Xp st 1 g2 1 g2 m m

9b

Figure 2 Typical variation of the amplitude of the response of the primary Xp with the excitation frequency o for
oa =op 0:8; ma =mp 0:1.

12 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

Figure 3 Typical variation of the amplitude of the response of the primary Xp with the excitation frequency o for
oa =op 1:0; m 0:1.

where the dimensionless parameters are defined as

g o=op (forcing frequency ratio) and m ma =mp
(mass ratio).
The roots of the denominator of eqns [9] define the
natural frequencies of the two-degree-of-freedom
system (primary system + DVA), given by:
m
g 1 
2
2

(mp , kp ). Assuming that a harmonic excitation force

given by f t F0 eiot acts on the primary mass, the
equations of motion for this two-degree-of-freedom
system are written:

mp xp kp xp ka xp xa ca x_ p x_ a F0 eiot

s

 2 
m
m
4

11a
10

Eqns [9] show that for g 1 the primary mass will

not vibrate while the absorbing mass will vibrate with
amplitude Xa Xp st =m. A typical plot of eqn [9a]
is shown in Figure 3.

ma xa ka xa xp ca x_ a x_ p 0

11b

The resulting steady-state amplitude for the primary

and DVA masses are found to be given by:

Viscously Damped Dynamic Vibration

Absorbers
The effective bandwidth of a DVA can be enlarged by
introducing a damping element responsible for energy
dissipation. Moreover, damping facilitates a reduction of the amplitude of relative motion between the
primary and the secondary masses, thus rendering less
critical the fatigue of the resilient element of the
DVA. Figure 4 illustrates a viscously damped DVA
(ma , ca , ka ) attached to an undamped primary system

Figure 4 Scheme of a viscously damped DVA connected to a

primary system.

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 13

Xp F0

ka ma o2 ioca

kp mp o2 ka ma o2 ma ka o2 ioca kp mp o2 ma o2

Xa F0

ka ioca

kp mp o2 ka ma o2 ma ka o2 ioca kp mp o2 ma o2

Similarly to what has been done when developing the

formulation for the undamped DVA, the following
parameters
are introduced: m ma =mp , mass ratio;
p
oa ka =ma , undamped natural frequency
p of the
DVA considered separately; op kp =mp ,
undamped natural frequency of the primary system
considered separately; f oa =op , turning factor;
g o=op , forcing frequency ratio; cc 2ma op ,
critical damping; z ca =cc , damping ratio;
Xp st F0 =kp , static displacement of the primary
mass. Thus, eqns [12] can be rewritten in terms of
the dimensionless parameters as follows:
 
Xp 


Xp
s( st

2zg2 g2 f 2

2zg2 g2 1 mg2 mf 2 g2 g2 1g2 f 2

13a
jX j
a

Xp
s( st

2zg2 f 4
2

2zg g2 1 mg2 mf 2 g2 g2 1g2 f 2

13b

Figure 5 illustrates a typical variation of the amplitude Xp with the forcing frequency ratio, for different
values of the damping factor z. As can be seen, for
z 0 the system behaves like an undamped twodegree-of-freedom system, with response amplitudes
tending to increase indefinitely at each of the two
resonance frequencies. As the amount of damping is
progressively increased, the system behaves like a
typical damped two-degree-of-freedom system and
eventually exhibits the apparent behavior of a single-degree-of-freedom system with mass m1 m2
when the two masses become virtually connected
through the dashpot. It can also be seen that all curves
intercept at points P and Q, named `invariant points'.
Eqn [13b] can be expressed as:

jX j
a

Xp st

12a

s
Az2 B
Cz2 D

13c

12b

where A, B, C, and D are functions of f and g, only.

The characterization of the invariant points is based
on the fact that the identity A=C B=D holds,
regardless of the value of the damping factor.
Figures 6 and 7 show the influence of the damping
ratio z and the tuning factor f on the frequency
response of the primary mass. It can be seen that
the response amplitudes at the invariant points vary
when the tuning factor is changed. For the purpose of
optimal design of a damped DVA, it is desired to find
a set of values zopt ; fopt to ensure a response curve
which is as flat as possible. Based on the behavior
illustrated in Figures 57, this optimal configuration
is achieved when both the invariant points are adjusted to equal heights and the response curve presents null slope at one of them. It makes marginal
difference which invariant point is taken. According
to the development originally presented by Den
Hartog, imposing these conditions to the frequency
response given by eqn [13a], the following expression
for the optimal tuning ratio is obtained:
1
14
1m
The expressions for the optimal damping ratios that
ensure zero slope at each invariant point are:
fopt

z2P

m3

m=m 2

81 m

z2Q

m3

m=m 2

81 m3

Den Hartog suggests to take the average between the

two values provided by the equations immediately
above as the optimal value of the damping ratio, as
given by:
s"
zopt

3m
81 m3

#
15

An optimally shaped frequency response curve is

indicated in Figure 7.

DVAs for Viscously Damped Primary

Systems
Dynamic vibration absorbers are likely to be added
only to lightly damped systems, since highly damped

14 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

Figure 5 Influence of damping on the frequency response of the primary mass f 1, m 1=20.

Figure 6 Frequency response of the primary mass for different values of the damping ratio and f 0:90.

systems usually present moderate vibration levels

which do not require any additional attenuation.
However, special situations may be found where it
is intended to design DVAs taking into account the
damping of the primary system. Such a situation is
illustrated in Figure 8. For this two-degree-of-freedom system, the following equations of motion are
written:

mp xp cp ca x_ p ca x_ a kp ka xp ka xa F
16a
ma xa ca x_ a ca x_ p ka xa ka xp 0

16b

From eqns [16], and using the same procedure as the

one adopted for the undamped primary system, the

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 15

Figure 7 Frequency response of the primary mass for different values of the damping ratio and f 0:952.

following expression is obtained for the frequency

response of the primary system in terms of dimensionless parameters.

form of Eqn [13c] with A=C B=D. As a result, Den

Hartog's optimization procedure does not apply. In
this case, to obtain the optimal values of the tuning

u(
)
 
u
2
Xp 
2 f 2 2
u

2z
g

g
a

t 
2
2
Xp st
2za g1 g2 mg2 2zp mgf 2 g2 mf 2 g2 g2 1g2 f 2
where:
za

ca
2ma op

and zp

cp
2ma op

and the other dimensionless parameters remain the

same as those already defined for the case of the
undamped primary system.
As opposed to eqn [13a], eqn [17] does not admit
the existence of invariant points in the frequency
response curves, since Eqn [17] cannot be put in the

17

ratio and absorber damping ratio, numerical optimization has to be carried out. For this purpose an
objective function related to the maximum response
amplitude must be defined and minimized with
respect to the DVA parameters. Such an optimization
procedure was implemented by Warburton and Yorinde, resulting in the values presented in Table 1. It
can be seen that, for small values of the primary
system damping, little influence of this damping on
is
the values of the optimal parameters fopt and zopt
a
noticed.

Optimal Design of Damped DVAs

Applied to Multi-degree-of-freedom
Primary Systems

Figure 8 Scheme of a damped DVA connected to a damped

primary system.

Single-degree-of-freedom primary systems are rarely

encountered in practical applications. Instead, realworld mechanical systems for which vibration protection is pursued are more conveniently modeled either
as multi-degree-of-freedom discrete systems or continuous distributed parameter systems. The procedure
for the optimum design of damped DVAs applied to

16 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION
Table 1 Optimal values of DVA parameters for viscously damped primary systems
Mass
ratio

Primary system
damping

Optimal values

Values of g for equal peaks

zp cp =2mp op

fopt

zopt ca =2ma oa

g1

g2

0.01

0
0.01
0.02
0.05
0.1

0.9901
0.9886
0.9869
0.9807
0.9663

0.061
0.062
0.064
0.068
0.073

0.960
0.956
0.953
0.942
0.923

1.030
1.032
1.033
1.034
1.030

0.1

0
0.01
0.02
0.05
0.1

0.9091
0.9051
0.9009
0.8875
0.8619

0.185
0.187
0.188
0.193
0.199

0.848
0.843
0.838
0.823
0.795

1.059
1.058
1.058
1.054
1.043

1.0

0
0.01
0.02
0.05
0.1

0.499
0.494
0.489
0.473
0.446

0.448
0.448
0.449
0.454
0.455

0.487
0.481
0.476
0.462
0.434

0.928
0.924
0.921
0.904
0.882

Adapted with permission from Warburton GB and Yorinde EO (1980) Optimum absorber parameters for simple systems. Earthquake Engineering and
Structural Dynamics, 8: 197217. John Wiley.

single-degree-of-freedom undamped primary systems

can be extended to these types of systems, using a
modal approach, developed in the following.
The main idea is to apply an optimization criterion
in the vicinity of a particular natural frequency of the
primary system. Several DVAs can be designed independently for each individual vibration mode. For
this purpose it is assumed that the natural frequencies
of the primary system are sufficiently well separated
and that the masses of the DVAs are small enough not
to modify significantly the natural frequencies of the
primary system. Figure 9 shows schematically a
damped DVA attached to an undamped multidegree-of-freedom primary system, modeled by inertia matrix M and stiffness matrix K. The indicated
coordinates xc and xf correspond to the coordinates
to which the DVA is attached and the excitation force
is applied, respectively. In the general case of multidimensional systems, these coordinates may corre-

spond to either displacements or rotations. To

attenuate the vibrations in the vicinity of the nth
natural frequency of the primary system, it is assumed
that the responses are dominated by this particular
mode. Thus, the vector of time responses of the
primary system can be written:
xt cn qn t

18a

and, in particular, for the forcing and coupling coordinates:

xf t cfn qn t

18b

xc t ccn qn t

18c

In the equations above, cfn and ccn designate the

components of the nth eigenvector corresponding to
the excitation and coupling coordinates, respectively,

Figure 9 Schematic representation of a damped DVA attached to a multi-degree-of-freedom primary system.

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 17

and qn t is the generalized coordinate associated

with the nth vibration mode. It is also assumed that
the nth eigenvector is normalized so as to satisfy:
cTn Mcn Mn
cTn Kcn

Mn o2n

and taking into account relations [19], the effective

parameters are expressed as:
Meff n

19a

Mn
c2cn

23a

Keff n Mn o2n

19b

23b

Assuming steady-state harmonic motion with

where Mn and on are, respectively, the generalized frequency o, by manipulating eqn [21] and using
mass and the natural frequency associated with the eqns [18], the following expression for the harmonic
amplitude at the coupling coordinate is obtained:
(
)

2
2zn gn 2 g2n fn2
jX c j
ccn cfn
24


2 

2
Xest n
2zn gn 2 g2n 1 meff n g2n meff n fn2 g2n g2n 1 g2n fn2
nth vibration mode of the primary system. In order to
formulate a generalized substructuring theory, the
following quantities are defined for the coupled system (primary system + DVA):
. Kinetic energy: T 12 x_ T Mx_ 12 ma x_ 2a
. Strain energy: V 12 xT Kx 12 ka xa xc 2
. Rayleigh dissipation function:
F 12 ca x_ a x_ c 2
. Virtual work of the excitation force:
W nc F ei!t xf

20a
20b
20c
20d

Introducing eqns [18] into eqns [20], taking into

account relations [19], and employing Lagrange's
equations, the following equations of motion are
obtained:
Mn qn ca c2cn q_ n ca ccn x_ a

Mp o2n ka c2cn qn ka ccn xa cfn Feiot
21a
Ma xa ca ccn q_ n ca x_ a ka ccn qn ka xa 0 21b
At this point the concepts of effective mass (Meff n
and effective stiffness (Keff n are introduced, according to:
1
_2
2 Meff n xc

12 x_ T Mx_

22a

1
2
2 keff n xc

12 xT Kx

22b

As can be seen from the eqns [22], the effective mass

can be interpreted as the mass that, once placed at the
connection point, yields the same value of kinetic
energy as that of the primary system. Similar interpretation is reserved to the effective stiffness, in terms
of strain energy. Introducing eqns [18] into eqns [22]

where the parameters are defined as follows:

meff n
Xest n

ma
Meff n

F0
Keff n

o
gn
on
s
ka
oa
ma

fn
zn

oa
on

ca
2ma on
25

Comparing eqns [24] and [13a], it can be seen

that the same dependence on the excitation frequency and dimensionless parameters is present in
both. Thus, using the correspondences z () zn
and m () meff n it is possible to extend the optimization procedure developed for single-degree-offreedom primary systems to discrete multi-degreeof-freedom or continuous distributed parameter
systems, by treating each vibration mode separately.
In the example illustrated in Figure 10, the primary
system is a simply-supported beam, simulated by
finite elements, the properties of which are given in
Table 2. The values of the first three natural frequencies and the components of the mode shapes corresponding to the vertical displacement of point B are
given in Table 3. The mode shapes are normalized so
that the generalized masses Mn are numerically equal
to the mass of the beam. A damped DVA is optimally
designed to attenuate the vibrations in the vertical
direction at point B in the frequency band neighboring the second natural frequency. Choosing the effective mass ratio meff 0:02, according to the
procedure previously described, the following computations lead to the optimal values of the DVA
parameters:

18 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

Figure 10 Beam-like primary system.

Mp
2:54

1:37
c2sc 1:362
s s
3meff
3  0:02

0:09
zopt
81 meff
81 0:02

2
oa
) ka ma fopt o2 3:85  104 N m1
fopt
o2
1
1
0:98
fopt

1 meff 1 0:02
ma meff Meff 0:02  1:37 0:03 kg
ca
) ca 6:25 N m1 s
zopt
2ma o2

Meff

Special Configurations of Dynamic

Vibration Absorbers
Although the theory presented above has been developed for the attenuation of translational motion of
vibrating systems, it can be readily extended to DVAs
intended for reducing rotational vibrations. Moreover, besides their classical representation as shown
by Figure 1, DVAs can assume various constructive
forms according to the specific application desired. In
the following, some of these special configurations
are reviewed.
Torsional Dynamic Vibration Absorbers

Figure 11 shows the frequency response for the coordinate to which the optimal DVA is attached,
superimposed on the same frequency response of
the primary system without the DVA. It can be seen
that the resonance peak corresponding to the second
natural frequency has been significantly damped.
Figure 12 shows the plots of the frequency response
in the vicinity of the second natural frequency for
different values of the damping ratio and a unique
value of the tuning ratio, demonstrating the existence
of the invariant points.

Table 2 Physical and geometrical characteristics of the beamlike primary system

Property

Value

Young modulus
Mass density
Beam length
Cross-section width
Cross-section height
Second moment of area
about x axis
Total mass

E 2:1  1011 N m72

r 7800 kg m73
L 763:0 mm
b 36:6 mm
h 11:4 mm
I 4518:7 mm4
2:54 kg

Torsional vibrations of internal combustion engines

and other rotating systems can be controlled by using
torsional vibration absorbers. Such an arrangement is
shown in Figure 13A. The primary system is represented by inertia Jp and torsional stiffness kTp , and the
absorber is represented by inertia Ja and torsional
stiffness kTa . Viscous damping is provided by oil
inside a housing rigidly connected to the primary
system, in such a way that a dissipative torque given
by cT y_ p y_ a is generated. An equivalent translational two-degree-of-freedom system is shown in
Figure 13B. Since the dynamic equations of motion
are similar for both systems, the formulae obtained
for the translational DVA and the procedure to
obtain its optimal design remain applicable for the
torsional system. The equivalence between the parameters of the translational and torsional systems is
indicated in Table 4.

Table 3 Modal characteristics of the beam-like primary system

Mode

Natural frequency (Hz)

Mode-shape component

1
2
3

46.10
184.2
414.3

70.84
1.36
71.33

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 19

Figure 11 Frequency response corresponding to the coupling coordinate.

Figure 12 Illustration of the invariant points in the vicinity of the second natural frequency.

The Gyroscopic Dynamic Vibration Absorber

The roll motion of ships can be reduced by installing a

large gyroscopic fixed to the hull, as shown in
Figure 14. This arrangement is called gyroscope of
Schlick and consists of a heavy gyroscope rotating at
a high speed about a vertical axis. The roll motion of
the ship induces the gyroscope to precess in the plane
of symmetry along the length of the ship. Optionally,
the precession motion can be damped by introducing
an energy dissipation device. Neglecting damping, the

equations of motion for the coupled system (ship +

gyro) are written:
 JOy_ kr f ts
Js f

26a

Jg y JOf_ Way 0

26b

where a distance between precession axis and

gyro's center of gravity; J polar moment of inertia

20 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

Figure 13 (A) Scheme of a torsional system with DVA and (B) equivalent rectilinear system.

Table 4 Equivalence between translational and torsional

parameters

Inertia of the primary

system
Stiffness of the primary
system
Inertia of the DVA
Stiffness of the DVA
Damping of the DVA

Translational
system

Torsional
system

mp (kg)

Jp (kg m2)
71

kp (N m

ma (kg)
ka (N m71)
ca (N.s m71)

Assuming harmonic excitation:

ts Ts eiot

27

the steady-state solution to eqns [26] is written:

71

kTp (N.m rad

Ja (kg m2)
kTa (N.m rad71)
cTa (N.m.s rad71)

of the gyro; Js mass moment of inertia of the ship

about its longitudinal axis; Jg mass moment of
inertia of the gyro about the precession axis; kr
stiffness associated with roll motion; W gyro's
weight; f roll angle of the ship; y precession
angle of the gyro; O rotational speed of the gyro;
ts external excitation torque applied to the ship. As
indicated in Figure 14, the gyro's center of gravity is
situated below the precession axis. This ensures that
the gyro is submitted to a restoring gravitational
torque about the precession axis.

f F eiot

28a

y Y eiot

28b

After some algebraic manipulation, the following

expression is obtained for the frequency response
corresponding to the roll motion of the ship:

Wa o2 Jg
Ts

kr o2 Js Wa o2 Jg JOo2

29

It can be readily seen from eqn [29] that the roll

motion is completely eliminated when the numerator
vanishes, i.e.:

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 21

Figure 14 Sketch of a gyroscopic DVA used to attenuate ship roll motion.

s

Wa
o
Jg

30

Thus, the gyroscope parameters can be chosen so as

to achieve tuning to the excitation frequency according to eqn [30].
It can be demonstrated that, when the precession
motion is viscously damped, the expression for the
frequency-response function associated to the roll
motion is similar to eqn [13a], and allows for invariant points. Thus, the gyroscopic system can be optimally designed by using Den Hartog's procedure in
the same way as it is applied to rectilinear damped
DVAs.
The Centrifugal Pendulum Vibration Absorber

In the torsional vibration of rotating systems, it is

generally the case that the excitation occurs at the
same frequency as the rotational speed or at a multiple n of this frequency. For example, a shaft that
drives a propeller can be subjected to torsional vibrations whose frequency is given by the number of
blades of the propeller times the rotation speed. In
such systems, a configuration of vibration absorber
which has been frequently used is the centrifugal
pendulum, depicted in Figure 15. The equations of
motion for the two-degree-of-freedom system (flywheel + pendulum) can be written as:





J
R l
l

 kT y t
2 y
1 c
mRl
mRl l R
R
mRl
31a


1


R   O2 R
yc
c0
l
l

31b

where J mass moment of inertia of the flywheel;

kT torsional stiffness of the shaft; l length of the
pendulum; m mass of the pendulum; n ratio
between the excitation frequency and the angular
velocity of the flywheel (order of vibration); R
distance between the center of the flywheel and the
pivoting point of the pendulum; y angular coordinate describing the torsional vibration of the flywheel; c angular coordinate describing the
oscillation of the pendulum; O angular velocity of
the flywheel. Assuming steady-state harmonic vibration, one writes:
t T einOt

y Y einOt

c einOt

32

and manipulation of eqns [31] leads to the following relation between the amplitudes of torsional
vibration of the shaft and oscillation of the pendulum:
Y
R ln2
2
n l R

33

It can be readily seen that if the geometry of the

system is designed such that R=l n2 , the torsional
vibration of the flywheel is completely cancelled. In
this case, the pendulum behaves as a DVA tuned to a
given multiple of the excitation frequency.

22 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION

Figure 15 Scheme of a centrifugal pendulum DVA applied to a rotating system. (A) Top view; (B) side view.

Active Dynamic Vibration Absorbers

In applications requiring attenuation capability over
a broad frequency band, active DVAs can be a very
interesting solution. Moreover, active DVAs offer the
possibility of automatic real-time tuning to the excitation frequency varying within a frequency band.
Active DVAs are understood as those having an active
element (actuator) installed in parallel with the passive elements supporting the reactive mass, as shown
in Figure 16. The force impressed by the actuator is
calculated through a previously defined control law.
It is important to point out, however, that active

DVAs have some drawbacks, such as energy consumption and instability.

Various control laws can be used, involving either
absolute or relative dynamic responses. In the following, for illustration, the theory of an active DVA
based on a control law expressed as a linear combination of relative displacement, velocity and acceleration responses is developed.In the system represented
by Figure 16 the control force applied by the actuator
is assumed to be expressed as:
ut a
xa xp bx_ a x_ p gxa xp 34

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 23

where:
8
a0
>
>
>
>
< a1
a2
>
>
a
>
>
: 3
a4

ma a mp
ma a
mp ma ca b cp ma a


kp ma a cp ca b ka g mp ma
cp ka g kp ca b
kp ka g
37

Figure 16 Schematic representation of a primary system with

an active DVA.

As in every application of active control, it is important to carry out a study of the stability of the system.
Using the RouthHurwitz stability criterion, based on
the expressions of the coefficients of the characteristic
equation, as given by eqn [37], it can be shown that
stability is ensured, provided that the following inequalities are satisfied by the feedback gains:
a>

where a, b, and g are, respectively, the feedback

gains for acceleration, velocity, and displacement
signals.
The matrix equation of motion for the two-degreeof-freedom system is written as:
M
x Cx_ Kx F

35

where:

M

C
K

ma a

a
mp a

cp ca b ca b

c a b

kp ka g


ka g
ka g

 
xp
f
F
xa
0

38a

b > ca

38b

g > ka

38c

The feedback gains can be adjusted so as to tune the

absorber to an arbitrarily chosen value of the excitation frequency. Using the equations of motion [35]
and assuming harmonic excitation F F0 eiot , the
frequency response of the primary mass is found to
be expressed as:
Xa ma ao2 ioca b ka g

F0
a0 o4 ia1 o3 a2 o2 ia3 o a4

ca b

ka g

39

For the case of an undamped DVA without velocity

feedback c2 b 0, from [39] it can be seen that
the response vanishes when:

As can be seen in the previous equations, the parameters b and g can be interpreted as damping and
stiffness parameters, which are added to the corresponding passive elements of the absorber. The same
interpretation cannot be given the parameter a, since
it also appears in the off-diagonal positions of the
mass matrix.
The characteristic equation of the system is written
in the Laplace domain as:
a 0 s 4 a 1 s 3 a2 s 2 a3 s a4 0

mp ma


mp ma

36

o2

ka g
ma a

40

Thus, it is possible to cancel the harmonic vibrations

at a given frequency o by adjusting the values of the
feedback gains g and/or a so as to satisfy eqn [40] and
the stability conditions given by [38a] and [38c].
Considering the particular case of an undamped
primary system and a control law without acceleration feedback cp 0; a 0, eqn [39] can be
expressed as follows:

24 ABSORBERS, VIBRATION



Xp kp 2

F0
2zg

g2

Final Remarks and Future

Perspectives

2
2zg2 g2 f 2

2
mg2 mg2 f 2

g2

1 g 2

2
f 2

41
where:
ma
;
m
mp

r
oa

g o=op ;


ka g
;
ma a

s
op

kp
mp

ca b
2ma op

f oa =op ;

42
Eqn [41] has the same form as eqn [13a] developed
for purely passive DVAs. As a result, the optimization
procedure based on the invariant points also holds for
the active DVA. Thus, assuming that the values of the
passive elements are not varied, the optimization of
the DVA can be achieved by finding an optimal set of
feedback gains. Introducing eqns [42] into eqns [14]
and [15], the following expressions for the optimal
gains are obtained:

gopt
s"
bopt 2

op
1m

2

3m
8 1 m 3

ma ka

43a

o p m a ca

43b

To illustrate the procedure for optimal design of an

active DVA, consider an undamped primary system,
for which the parameters take the following values:
mp 1:0 kg;

kp 10 000 N m1 ;

cp 0

The passive parameters of the DVA are chosen as:

ma 0:1 kg;

ka 1000 N m1 ;

ca 0

Eqns [43] are used to determine the following optimal

values of the feedback gains g and b:
gopt 173:55 N m1

bopt 3:36 Ns m1

Figure 17 shows the influence of the active DVA on

the frequency system response of the primary system
as compared to the response of this system without
DVA and with the purely passive undamped DVA.

In the previous sections, only DVAs comprising stiffness and damping elements exhibiting linear behavior
have been considered. However, studies have demonstrated that nonlinear DVAs generally provide a
suppression bandwidth much larger than linear
absorbers. As a result, in spite of a more involved
theory and design procedure, nonlinear vibration
absorbers have received much attention lately.
Although only harmonic excitations were considered here, the reader should be aware of the fact that
dynamic vibration absorbers have been extensively
used to attenuate other types of vibrations, such as
transient and random. In such cases, the optimal
design is generally carried on by using time domainbased procedures.
The study and development of techniques related
to smart materials represent new possibilities of
vibration reduction in mechanics and mechatronics.
The physical properties of such materials can be
modified by controlled modifications of some environmental parameters. To mention a few examples,
the viscosity (damping capacity) of electrorheological
and magnetorheological fluids can be varied by
applying external electric and magnetic fields, respectively. The geometry of components made of shape
memory alloys can be changed by applying temperature variations. Some researchers have considered the
possibility of using such smart materials to conceive
self-tunable adaptive vibration absorbers. Furthermore, the possibility of dissipating mechanical energy
with piezoelectric material, such as piezoelectric ceramics, shunted with passive electrical components has
been investigated by various authors in this decade.
The four basic kinds of shunt circuits are: inductive,
resistive, capacitive, and switched. If a piezoelectric
element is attached to a structure, it is strained as the
structure deforms and part of the vibration energy is
converted into electrical energy. The piezoelectric
element behaves electrically as a capacitor and can
be combined with a so-called shunt network in order
to perform vibration control. Shunting with a resistor
and inductor forms a RLC circuit introducing an
electrical resonance which, in the optimal case, is
tuned to structural resonances. The scheme of such
an arrangement is depicted in Figure 18. The inductor
is used to tune the shunt circuit to a given resonance
of the structure and the resistor is responsible for peak
amplitude reduction of a particular mode. The inductive shunt or resonant circuit shunt presents a vibration suppression effect that is very similar to the
classical dynamic vibration absorber. The classical
DVA stores part of the kinetic energy of the primary

ABSORBERS, VIBRATION 25

Figure 17 Frequency response of the primary system.

Nomenclature

Figure 18 Scheme of a resonant circuit shunt used for vibration attenuation.

system, while the resonant circuit shunt is designed to

dissipate the electrical energy that has been converted
from mechanical energy by the piezoelectric. A multimode damper can be obtained by adding a different
shunt for each suppressed mode in such a way that
attenuation can be obtained for a given number of
frequencies.

f
g
J
l
W
X
m
c

t
F
O

tuning factor
forcing frequency ratio
inertia
length
weight
amplitude
mass ratio
angular coordinate
precession angle
external excitation torque
roll angle
rotational speed/angular velocity

See also: Absorbers, active; Active control of civil

structures; Active control of vehicle vibration; Active
isolation; Damping, active; Flutter, active control; Ship
vibrations; Shock isolation systems; Theory of vibration, Fundamentals; Vibration isolation theory; Viscous
damping.

26 ACTIVE CONTROL OF CIVIL STRUCTURES

Further Reading
Den Hartog JP (1956) Mechanical Vibrations, 4th edn.
McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Hagood NW and von Flotow A (1991) Damping of
structural vibrations with piezoelectric materials and
passive electrical networks. Journal of Sound and
Vibration 146: 243268.
Harris CM (1988) Shock and Vibration Handbook, 3rd
edn, McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Inman DJ (1989) Vibration with Control, Measurement
and Stability. Prentice-Hall.
Korenev BG and Reznikov LM (1993) Dynamic Vibration

Absorbers. Theory and Practical Applications. John

Wiley.
Nashif AD, Jones DIG and Henderson JP (1985) Vibration
Damping. John Wiley.
Newland DE (1989) Mechanical Vibration Analysis and
Computation. Longman Scientific and Technical.
Snowdon JC (1968) Vibration and Shock in Damped
Mechanical Systems. John Wiley.
Sun JQ, Jolly MR and Norris MA (1995) Passive, adaptive
and active tuned vibration absorbers a survey. Trans.
ASME Combined Anniversary Issue Journal of Mechanical Design and Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 117:
234242.

ACTIVE ABSORBERS
See ABSORBERS, ACTIVE

ACTIVE CONTROL OF CIVIL STRUCTURES

T T Soong, State University of New York at Buffalo,
Buffalo, NY, USA
B F Spencer, Jr., University of Notre Dame, Notre
Dame, IN, USA
Copyright # 2001 Academic Press
doi:10.1006/rwvb.2001.0189

Introduction
In civil engineering structural applications, active,
semiactive, and hybrid structural control systems
are a natural evolution of passive control technologies such as base isolation and passive energy dissipation. The possible use of active control systems and
some combinations of passive and active systems, socalled hybrid systems, as a means of structural protection against wind and seismic loads has received
considerable attention in recent years. Active/hybrid
control systems are force delivery devices integrated
with real-time processing evaluators/controllers and
sensors within the structure. They act simultaneously
with the hazardous excitation to provide enhanced
structural behavior for improved service and safety.
Remarkable progress has been made over the last 20
years. As will be discussed in the following sections,
research to date has reached the stage where active
systems have been installed in full-scale structures.
Active systems have also been used temporarily in
construction of bridges or large-span structures (e.g.,
lifelines, roofs) where no other means can provide
adequate protection.

The purpose of this article is to provide an assessment of the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice
of this exciting, and still evolving, technology. Also
included in the discussion are some basic concepts,
the types of active control systems being used and
deployed, and their advantages and limitations in the
context of seismic design and retrofit of civil engineering structures.

Active, Hybrid, and Semiactive Control

Systems
An active structural control system has the basic
configuration shown schematically in Figure 1A. It
consists of: (1) sensors located about the structure to
measure either external excitations, or structural
response variables, or both; (2) devices to process
the measured information and to compute necessary
control force needed based on a given control algorithm; and (3) actuators, usually powered by external
sources, to produce the required forces.
When only the structural response variables are
measured, the control configuration is referred to as
feedback control since the structural response is continually monitored and this information is used to
make continual corrections to the applied control
forces. A feedforward control results when the control forces are regulated only by the measured excitation, which can be achieved, for earthquake inputs,
by measuring accelerations at the structural base. In
the case where the information on both the response
quantities and excitation is utilized for control design,
the term feedbackfeedforward control is used.