Vibration Isolation Performance of an Adaptive Magnetorheological Elastomer-Based Dynamic Vibration Absorber

This study evaluates the vibration isolation performance of an adaptive magnetorheological elastomer (MRE)-based dynamic vibration absorber (MRE-DVA) for mitigating the high frequency vibrations (100–250 Hz) of target devices. A simple and effective MRE-DVA design was presented and its vibration isolation performance was experimentally measured. A cylindrical shaped MRE pad was configured to be operated in shear mode and also worked as a semi-actively tunable spring for achieving adaptive DVA. A complex stiffness analysis for the damper force cycle was conducted and it was experimentally observed that the controllable dynamic stiffness range of the MRE-DVA was greater than two over the tested frequency range. The transmissibility of a target system was measured and used as a performance index to evaluate its vibration isolation performance. It was also experimentally demonstrated that a better vibration isolation performance of the target device exposed to the high frequency vibrations could be achieved by using the adaptive MRE-DVA.