Structural vibration control using multiple synchronous sources

Abstract

The advantages of isolating vibrating machinery from its supporting structure are that the chances of vibration induced fatigue failure of structural components are reduced, the structure becomes more inhabitable for people due to less vibration exposure and the sound radiated by the structure into the environment is reduced. This last point is especially important for machinery operating in a marine environment because low frequency sound propagates very well underwater, and the machinery induced sound radiated from a ship or submarine is a primary detection and classification mechanism for passive sonar systems.

This thesis investigates the control of vibration from an elastic support structure upon which multiple vibrating systems are passively mounted. The excitations are assumed to occur at discrete frequencies with a finite number of harmonic components and the machines are all assumed to be supplied with power from the same electrical supply. Active vibration control may be achieved by adjusting the phase of the voltage supplied to one or more of the machines, so that a minimum value of a measurable cost function is obtained. Adjusting the phase of a machine with respect to a reference machine is known as synchrophasing and is a well established technique for controlling the sound in aircraft cabins and in ducts containing axial fans. However, the use of the technique for reducing the vibration of machinery mounted on elastic structures seems to have received very little attention in the literature and would appear to be a gap in the current knowledge. This thesis aims to address that gap by investigating theoretically and experimentally how synchrophasing can be implemented as an active structural vibration control technique.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for N.S. Ferguson: orcid.org/0000-0001-5955-7477

Catalogue record

Export record