6. Lumped Mass Model of a 1D Metastructure with Vibration Absorbers with Varying Mass

This work examines the distribution of vibration absorber mass for a lumped mass metastructure model designed to suppress vibrations in the axial direction. Metastructures, a metamaterial inspired concept, are structures with distributed vibration absorbers. In automotive and aerospace industries, it is critical to have low levels of vibrations while also using lightweight materials. Previous work has shown that this design can effectively reduce vibrations by comparing the response of the metastructure to a structure with no vibration absorbers but with equal mass. Previous work constrained the vibration absorber masses to be the same throughout the structure. This work looks at the added performance that can be realized by allowing these masses to varying throughout the length of the metastructure. Additionally, the performance of the metastructure is also compared a host structure with a single tuned mass damper to show how this new technology differs from traditional vibration suppression methods.