Nonlinear vibration suppression for flexible arms via modal coupling

Modal coupling is an important characteristic of most nonlinear dynamic systems. Although the existence of modal coupling can make the dynamic responses of a system quite complicated, it can be utilized to provide potential solutions to regulate nonlinear vibration. In this paper, the mechanism of modal coupling is used as a means to suppress vibration of a flexible arm undergoing joint motion. A secondary oscillatory system is attached to the flexible arm to generate appropriate modal coupling. Via this nonlinear coupling, internal resonance can be successfully induced and used to transfer vibration energy from the flexible arm to the vibration absorber. Moreover, the damping enhancement effect is studied, which is found to help suppressing vibrations. The feasibility of the idea presented herein has been demonstrated in the numerical simulations.