Theoretical Design and Experimental Validation of a Vibro-Impact Support for Vibration Suppression

To mitigate the high contact forces and noise inherent in traditional hard-impact dampers, this work evaluates the efficacy of a soft viscoelastic vibro-impact interface for passive vibration suppression. This study investigates the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a cantilever beam equipped with a soft vibro-impact interface, combining theoretical modeling and experimental validation to explore energy redistribution and damping enhancement mechanisms. The system is excited under both free and forced vibration conditions, and its response is characterized through tip displacement, acceleration, and impact force measurements. Numerical simulations based on an impact-contact model accurately predict the amplitude-dependent broadening and frequency shift observed in the experiments, demonstrating that the soft impacts introduce nonlinear stiffness and effective damping. The comparison between theoretical and experimental frequency responses confirms that energy is transferred from the primary mode to higher harmonics, leading to broadband vibration attenuation. These findings provide experimental evidence of the nonlinear energy transfer mechanisms previously predicted, including harmonic resonance stimulation and nonresonant energy exchange. The results demonstrate that soft-contact vibro-impact dampers can be effectively tuned to exploit nonlinear dynamics for enhanced passive vibration suppression, bridging the gap between theoretical predictions and practical implementations.