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A quasi-zero-stiffness dynamic vibration absorber

Yaopeng Chang , Jiaxi Zhou , Kai Wang , Daolin Xu

PII: S0022-460X(20)30687-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2020.115859
Reference: YJSVI 115859

To appear in: Journal of Sound and Vibration

Received date: 25 June 2020

Revised date: 11 November 2020
Accepted date: 18 November 2020

Please cite this article as: Yaopeng Chang , Jiaxi Zhou , Kai Wang , Daolin Xu , A quasi-
zero-stiffness dynamic vibration absorber, Journal of Sound and Vibration (2020), doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2020.115859

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Highlights
• The quasi-zero-stiffness dynamic vibration absorber (QZS DVA) has high static
but low dynamic stiffness, and possesses ultra-low anti-resonance frequency.
• The QZS DVA mitigates ultra-low frequency vibration of the primary system.
• The QZS DVA notably outperforms the linear DVA for vibration attenuation
under random or pulse excitations.
• The QZS DVA shows significant tunability by enhancing or reducing the
negative stiffness.

1
A quasi-zero-stiffness dynamic vibration absorber
Yaopeng Chang a,b, Jiaxi Zhoua,b, Kai Wanga,b, Daolin Xua,b
a
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, Hunan University,
Changsha 410082, PR China
b
College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China

Abstract

Dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs) are practical solutions for vibration

absorption. However, it is still a challenge to absorb ultra-low frequency vibration. In
this paper, a quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) DVA is proposed for ultra-low frequency
vibration absorption. Firstly, the conceptual design of the QZS DVA is carried out by
using a simple oblique-spring model. Then, the dynamic behaviors of a primary system
with a QZS DVA under harmonic excitation are obtained by the harmonic balance
method (HBM) and verified by numerical analyses. Moreover, the dynamic behaviors
under random and impulse are also given numerically. The results show that good
performances of ultra-low frequency vibration absorption can be achieved by the QZS
DVA under harmonic excitation, and the QZS DVA notably outperforms the linear DVA
for mitigating vibration under random and impulse excitations. Finally, experiments on
a vibratory system with a QZS DVA are conducted to validate the design concept of
QZS DVA for ultra-low frequency vibration absorption
Keywords: Quasi-zero-stiffness; Dynamic vibration absorber; Ultra-low frequency;
Vibration absorption.

1. Introduction

Dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs) have been widely used to mitigate the
undesirable oscillations from structures. However, for the traditional linear DVA, the
attenuation zone of vibration absorption is quite narrow and the anti-resonant frequency
cannot be tuned [1,2]. In addition, the response of the primary system in the
neighborhood of anti-resonant frequency is very steep [3]. Note that, the anti-resonant
frequency is equal to the natural frequency of the DVA. Thus, it is hard to absorb the
ultra-low frequency vibration by the linear DVA, due to its inherent drawback that the

2
stiffness cannot be designed to be ultra-low. In consideration of the above limitations,
nonlinear DVAs are increasingly utilized [4,5], which are effective in wider frequency
range of vibration absorption and lower anti-resonant frequency than the linear DVAs
[6,7].
The nonlinear DVA [8–10] and non-linear energy sinks (NES) [11–16] have
attracted much attention from scholars. Djemal et al. [17] proposed a nonlinear DVA
using buckling beams to provide negative stiffness, which demonstrated that the
nonlinear DVA can broaden the frequency bandwidth. Godoy et al. [18] designed a
tunable nonlinear DVA based on a snap-through truss geometry, the results showed that
the nonlinear DVA substantially outperformed its linear counterpart in terms of
vibration reduction and absorption frequency bandwidth. Febbo et al. [19] proposed a
nonlinear DVA with the saturable nonlinearity, which exhibited better vibration
absorption as the nonlinearity of the primary system increases in the whole frequency
range. Jo et al [20] and Sun et al. [21] presented a nonlinear DVA for mitigating the
nonlinear resonances of the primary system, the theoretical and experimental results
indicated that the nonlinear DVA is effective for vibration absorption under small-
amplitude excitations. In addition, Yao et al [22] proposed a nonlinear DVA combining
negative stiffness with positive stiffness together for rotor system, the results revealed
that the proposed DVA is effective to suppress the vibration of the rotor system and also
to broaden the frequency bandwidth. Guo et al [23] utilized the NES to mitigate the
whirling vibration at the critical speeds for the rotor system, the results shown that is
able to efficiently reduce the resonant amplitude of the rotor system. Motato et al [24]
used the nonlinear absorbers as NES to mitigate unwanted vibrations of the primary
structure and presented numerical evidence for the energy redistribution process.
Admittedly, the existing reviewed above could suppress the vibration of the
primary system in wider attenuation zone of vibration absorption and lower anti-
resonant frequency than the linear DVAs. However, the nonlinear DVAs are still unable
to absorb vibrations at ultra-low frequency, since the resonant frequency of the
nonlinear DVAs cannot be substantially reduced by the conventional ways, such as
lower the stiffness or enlarge the mass of the DVA limitless. Fortunately, a design
concept of quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) was proven as a promising way to fulfill ultra-
low dynamic stiffness [8,25]. The QZS structure or mechanism not only can support
the payload but also realize ultra-low stiffness at the static equilibrium position. Thus,
it should be an encouraging approach to mitigate ultra-low frequency vibration by
3
devising a QZS DVA.
Generally, the QZS is achieved by combining a positive stiffness (PS) part with a
negative stiffness (NS) part in parallel [26,27]. Carrella et al. [28,29] considered a
simple model by inclined springs, and investigated the static and dynamic
characteristics of a QZS vibration isolation system. To improve the vibration isolation
performance and optimize the mechanical configuration, many other types of QZS
vibration isolators were also devised. Xu et al. [30] proposed a QZS isolator consisting
of horizontal magnetic springs with inclined link, the analytical and experimental
studies showed that the QZS isolator greatly outperforms the linear one, especially at
the ultra-low frequency. Zhou et al. [31,32] designed a QZS vibration isolator by
combining two cam-roller-spring mechanisms and a linear spring, and studied the
dynamic behaviors and the isolation performance of the QZS isolator. The influence of
the parametric error on the vibration isolation performance was also studied in detail
[33]. Shaw et al. [34] proposed an high static low dynamic stiffness (HSLDS) isolator
by connecting linear springs in parallel with a composite bistable plate, which exhibited
a greater isolation frequency region and a lower peak response to base excitation than
the equivalent linear system. In addition, Sun and Jing et al. [27,35] presented a
nonlinear vibration isolation system by X-shaped structures. Generally, the friction
always exists between the contact pair in the QZS isolator, which has significant
influence on the vibration isolation performance [36]. The non-contact magnetic NS
structure could notably reduce the influence of friction and tune the stiffness by adding
magnetic force [37]. Liu et al. [38] and Sun et al. [39] devised a semi-active
electromagnetic vibration isolator for a tunable HSLDS by magnetic mechanisms. As
expected, the magnetic QZS isolator has better performance than the mechanical QZS
isolator with frictions.
Some researchers explored the potential applications of the QZS vibration
isolator in practices, owing to its excellent ultra-low frequency vibration isolation
performance. Deng et al. [40] proposed a multi-layer QZS nonlinear isolator to develop
vibration isolation equipment to isolate ultra-low frequency vibration. Li et al. [41,42]
proposed the single-layer and two-layer QZS the floating raft systems for vibration
isolation. Ding et al. [43,44] isolated transverse vibration of a pre-pressure elastic beam
and a fluid-conveying pipe by the QZS supports at both two ends. Zhou et al. [45,46]
proposed a QZS vibration isolation system for neonatal incubator to improve the
comfort of the infant during road transport. Wang et al. [47] and Yan et al. [48] designed
4
QZS seat suspensions to improve vehicle vibration isolation performance. Liu et al. [49]
presented a QZS mechanism for micro-vibration suppression in the aerospace
environment. Sun et al. [50] devised a 3D sensor for absolute motion measurement
based on the QZS, and Tuo et al. [51] proposed a torsion 3-axis QZS based sensor for
absolute rotation measurement. Obviously, the applications of QZS mechanisms in
engineering practice show its superiority in isolating ultra-low frequency vibration.
Aim at the hard issue of the ultra-low frequency vibration absorption, this paper
devises a QZS DVA and investigates its vibration suppression performance. The QZS
DVA is placed on the primary system to pump energy from the primary system and thus
to suppress the ultra-low frequency vibration. The vibration absorption performance of
QZS DVA is evaluated numerically, and then validated experimentally. The main
contribution of this paper is to extend the QZS method from vibration isolation to
vibration absorption, and thus to resolve the hard issue on ultra-low frequency vibration
mitigation.
The paper is organized as follows. The design of the QZS DVA is conducted and
its stiffness feature is revealed in Section 2. The dynamic behaviors and vibration
absorption performances of QZS DVA are analyzed, and the influence of parameters on
vibration absorption is discussed in Section 3. Then, the vibration mitigation by using
QZS DVA under random and impulse excitations is presented in Section 4. In Section
5, experimental tests are carried out to verify the design of QZS DVA. Finally, some
conclusions are drawn in the Section 6.

2. Design of a QZS DVA

2.1. Design concept

To suppress the vibration of a primary system, a traditional linear DVA, composed

of a mass, a damper and a linear spring, is always used to pump energy from primary
system to the DVA, as shown in Fig. 1(a). It is of great concern to absorb ultra-low
frequency vibration here. Generally, there are two possible ways to reduce the vibration
absorption frequency of a linear DVA: decreasing the stiffness or increasing the mass.
However, an excessive static deformation would be caused by low stiffness or large
mass and it even would lead to a failure of the DVA. Meanwhile, a large mass would
also cause alterations in the inherent characteristics of the primary system, which is not
advisable in many practical applications. It is therefore difficult to absorb ultra-low

5
frequency vibration by using the linear DVA.

(a) (b)
Linear DVA QZS DVA xDVA
M M
k0
kv cM

m m x
f (t) = sin  t k cm

a (d)
(c) M
M
k0  x
kv

F0
Fig.1.The models of dynamic vibration absorbers: (a) Linear DVA and (b) QZS DVA. The schematic
diagram of the QZS DVA (c) at the static equilibrium position and (d) deviating from the equilibrium
position with a displacement x .

The proposed QZS DVA, as shown in Fig. 1(b), consists of a QZS mechanism, a
mass and a damper. The QZS mechanism is constructed by combining a vertical spring
k v with two oblique springs k 0 , which has been validated experimentally to be an
effective way to fulfill QZS in our previous work [52]. For the oblique spring, one end
is fixed on the frame and the other end is connected with the mass M by using a hinge
joint, which provides negative stiffness along the vertical direction. And the vertical
spring is used to support the mass M of the DVA. At the static equilibrium position, as
shown in Fig. 1(c), both the oblique and vertical springs are compressed, the oblique
springs lies along the horizontal direction, and consequently the mass M is supported
by the vertical spring totally.

2.2. Stiffness feature of the QZS DVA

When an external force f is applied on the primary system, the mass M

undergoes a displacement x with respect to the static equilibrium position,
meanwhile, the oblique springs open an angle  with respect to the horizontal
direction, as shown in Fig. 1(d).
For the QZS DVA, the restoring force can be given by

(
f ( x ) = kv x − 2k0 l − a 2 + x 2 sin  ) (1)

6
where k v and k 0 represent the stiffness of the vertical and oblique spring, respectively,

a and l are the compressed length at the static equilibrium position and the original
length of oblique spring respectively, and

x
sin  = (2)
a + x2
2

Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1), one can obtain the restoring force
 l 
f ( x ) = k v x − 2k 0 x  − 1 (3)
 a +x 
2 2

Differentiating Eq. (3) with respect to x , the stiffness can be given by

 
 la 
2
k ( x ) = k v − 2k 0  3
− 1 (4)
 ( a 2 +x 2 ) 2 
 
A parameter  (0<  <1) is introduced to denote a ratio of the stiffness of the

QZS DVA to the stiffness k v of the vertical spring, and Eq. (4) can be rewritten as

 
 la 
2
k ( x ) =  kv + (1 −  ) kv − 2k0  3
− 1 (5)
 ( a 2 +x 2 ) 2 
 
By letting the sum of the second and third terms of Eq. (5) to be zero, a part of
the vertical spring (1 −  ) kv is neutralized by the oblique springs, and the QZS DVA

with stiffness  kv can be achieved.

 
 la 
2
(1 −  ) kv − 2k0  3
− 1 = 0 (6)
 ( a 2 +x 2 ) 2 
 
At the equilibrium position ( x = 0), Eq. (6) can be rewritten as

k0 =
(1 −  ) a k (7)
2 (l − a )
v

Note that, Eq. (7) is a unique relation about parameters a, l and  , which ensures

that the stiffness of the QZS DVA is equal  kv at the equilibrium position. Substituting
Eq. (7) into Eq. (3) and Eq. (4), one can obtain the expressions of restoring the force
and stiffness of the QZS DVA

7
  a (1 −  )  l 
f ( x ) = kv x  1 −  − 1  (8)
 l − a  a2 + x 2 
 

  
 a (1 −  )  la 2 
k ( x ) = kv  1 −  − 1  (9)
l −a 3
  ( a 2 +x 2 ) 2 
  
To simplify the following dynamic analysis, the complicated expression of the
restoring force is approximated by curving fitting. Since the restoring force is an odd
function with respect to x , Eq. (9) can be rewritten as
m
f ( x ) = kl ( x ) +  kn (2i +1) ( x ) 2i +1 (10)
i =1

It is well known that increasing the order of Taylor expansion will improve the
fitting accuracy. The approximations and corresponding errors for different orders are
shown in Fig. 2. Obviously, the error is reduced as the order of the approximation
increases. However, within the displacement range (-0.005m, 0.005m), the fifth-order
polynomial nearly has the same accuracy as the higher ones, as shown in Fig. 2(b). For
the sack of simplicity in the following theoretical analysis, the fifth-order polynomial
is taken as the approximation of the original restoring force.

(a) (b)

Fig.2. (a) Restoring force curve, (b) error curve under different orders

3. Vibration absorption under harmonic force excitation

Consider a QZS DVA attached onto a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) primary

system subjected to a harmonic force excitation, which can be modeled as 2-DOF
lumped-mass system, as depicted in Fig. 1(b). Note that only the motion along the
vertical direction is considered here.

3.1. Dynamic response of the system with QZS DVA

The equations of motion can be written as

8
 m
MxDVA + cM ( xDVA − x) + kl ( xDVA − x) +  kn (2i +1) ( xDVA − x) 2i +1 = 0
i =1
m
(11)
mx + cM ( x − xDVA ) + kx + kl ( x − xDVA ) +  kn (2i +1) ( x − xDVA ) 2 i +1
+cm x = f (t )
i =1

where m , k , cm are the mass, stiffness and damping of the primary system,

respectively. M and cM are the mass and damping coefficient of the QZS DVA,

respectively. x and xDVA are the displacements of the primary system and QZS DVA,

respectively. f (t ) = F sin  t is the force excitation, where F and  are the

excitation amplitude and excitation frequency, respectively.
To describe Eq. (11) in non-dimensional form, the following terms are introduced
x1 = ( xDVA − x) / R , x2 = xDVA / R ,  = M t ,  = M / m , m = k / m , M = kv / M ,

 = k / kv , l = kl / kv ,  n (2i +1) = kn (2i +1) R 2i / kv ,  =  / M ,  =m / M , R=a,

X = F / (kv R) , 1 = cM / (2M M ) , 2 = cm / (2mm ) .

By using the above terms, Eq. (11) can be rewritten
m
x2 + 21 x1 +  l x1 +   n (2i +1) x12i +1 = 0
i =1
m
(12)
 ( x2 − x1 ) − 21 x1 +  ( x2 − x1 ) −  l x1 −   2 i +1
n (2 i +1) 1x +2 2 ( x2 − x1 ) = X sin 
i =1

where x1 is the non-dimensional relative displacement between the mass m of primary

system and the mass M of QZS DVA, and x2 is the non-dimensional displacement of

the mass M.
Therefore, the displacement response is assumed to be
x1 = z11 cos  + z12 sin 
(13)
x2 = z21 cos  + z22 sin 
Substituting Eq. (13) into Eq. (12), and ignoring the higher-order harmonic terms,
and equating coefficient of cos  and sin  , the relationships between the amplitude
of the fundamental response and the excitation frequency can be obtained

9
 3 5
− 2 z21 +  l z11 +  n 3 ( z11
3
+ z11 z122 ) +  n 5 ( z11
5
+ 2 z11 z12 + z11 z124 ) + 21 z12 = 0
3 2

4 8
3 5
− 2 z22 +  l z12 +  n 3 ( z12
3
+ z112 z12 ) +  n 5 ( z12
5
+ 2 z112 z12
3
+ z114 z12 ) − 21 z11 = 0
4 8
2 3 5
− ( z21 − z11 ) −  l z11 −  n 3 ( z11 3
+ z11 z122 ) −  n 5 ( z11
5
+ 2 z11 z12 + z11 z124 ) − 21 z12
3 2

 4 8 (14)
2 2
+ ( z21 − z11 )+ （z22 − z12）= 0

 2
3 5
− ( z22 − z12 ) −  l z12 −  n 3 ( z12
3
+ z112 z12 ) −  n 5 ( z12
5
+ 2 z112 z12
3
+ z114 z12 ) + 21 z11
 4 8
2 
+ ( z22 − z12 )+ 2 （z11 − z21）= X


By solving Eq. (15), the displacement response of the primary system can be given
by
xDVA = ( z21 − z11 ) cos  + ( z22 − z12 ) sin 
(15)
= X cos( −  )

where X = ( z21 − z11 ) 2 + ( z22 − z12 ) 2 and tan  = ( z21 − z11 ) ( z22 − z12 ) .

The performance of vibration absorption by the QZS DVA is evaluated in terms of

the non-dimensional displacement of the primary system

X ( z21 − z11 ) 2 + ( z22 − z12 ) 2

X = = (16)
X0 X0

where X 0 = F k . Obviously, the smaller the non-dimensional displacement amplitude

of the primary system is, the better the performance of vibration absorption is.
The non-dimensional displacement of the primary system X is shown in Fig. 3,
which is compared with the numerical solutions by solving Eq. (11) using the Runge-
Kutta method (RKM). In Fig. 3, the black and star lines denote numerical and analytical
solutions, respectively. It can be seen that there is good agreement between the
analytical and numerical solution, except in the frequency range where the jump
phenomenon occurs. The agreement between the analytical and numerical results
indicates that the fifth-order polynomial for the restoring force is acceptable. Therefore,
the analytical solutions are utilized to study the influence of system parameters on the
displacement response in the following section. Moreover, an anti-resonant peak occurs
at 1.9 Hz, i.e. the resonant frequency of the QZS DVA, which implies that the QZS
DVA is capable of generating ultra-low frequency anti-resonance for ultra-low
frequency vibration absorption.
10
 Numerical solution
60 Analytical solution

30

X (dB)
0

-30

-60

0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (Hz)

Fig.3. The non-dimensional displacement of the primary system with the QZS DVA

3.2. Influence of mass ratio and stiffness of the QZS DVA

The mass ratio and residual stiffness coefficient are two key parameters for the
QZS DVA. The influences of the mass ratio and residual stiffness coefficient on the
non-dimensional displacement amplitude of the primary system X are shown in Fig.
4(a) and Fig. 4(b), respectively. It can be observed from Fig. 4(a) that the anti-resonant
frequency moves towards higher frequency and the vibration absorption performance
is enhanced as the mass ratio increases, but the attenuation zone increases as the mass
ratio decreases. However, from Fig. 4(b), one can see that both the anti-resonant
frequency and attenuation zone increase and vibration absorption performance is
improved with the residual stiffness coefficient increases. This can be attributed to the
amplified resonant frequency of the QZS DVA by increasing the mass ratio or reducing
the residual stiffness coefficient. Therefore, increasing the mass or decreasing the
residual stiffness coefficient of the QZS DVA would be two possible ways to lower the
anti-resonant peak and fulfill ultra-low frequency vibration absorption.
Nevertheless, the mass of the DVA is difficult to be altered during working process,
but the residual stiffness coefficient of the QZS DVA is easy to be adjusted by only
tuning the negative-stiffness mechanism. Moreover, the resonance peak nearly is not
affected by changing the residual stiffness coefficient, while the second resonance rises
as the mass increases. Therefore, the QZS DVA is an ideal way to realize ultra-low
frequency vibration absorption, which can be realized easily by introducing a negative
stiffness mechanism to reduce the stiffness of the linear DVA.

11
 90 60
(a) (b)
60
30
 = 0.25  = 0.15
30
 = 0.5  = 0.2

X (dB)
0

X (dB)
 = 0.75  = 0.25
0
=1  = 0.3
-30
-30

-60 -60

-90 -90
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

(c) (d)
0.8
1.5
Attenuation zone (Hz)

Attenuation zone (Hz)

0.6
1.0
0.4

0.5
0.2

0.0 0.0
0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30
 

Fig.4. The non-dimensional displacement and attenuation zone of the primary system of the QZS
DVA with different (a)(c) mass ratios and (b)(d) residual stiffness coefficient.

3.3. Influence of damping and excitation amplitude

The dynamic system with a QZS DVA is a nonlinear system, and the vibration
absorption performance also can be affected by both the damping and excitation
amplitude. Especially, the anti-resonant peak is quite sensitive to damping. The
influence of damping on the displacement amplitude is depicted in Fig. 5(a). Obviously,
as the damping ratio increases, the anti-resonant peak become blunt and the vibration
absorption at the anti-resonant frequency get worse. In addition, one can see from Fig.
5(b) that the attenuation zone is constant, which implies that the damping ratio has no
effect on the frequency range of vibration absorption, but affects the vibration
absorption performance at the anti-resonance frequency, as shown in the Fig. 5(c).
(a) (b)
60 60
1=0.01

30 30
1 = 0.003 1 = 0.005
0.8 Hz 1=0.008
X (dB)

X (dB)

0 0.8 Hz
0
1=0.005
-30
-30
-60 1=0.003
-77.6 -60
-68.5
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6 0.0 0.4 0.8

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) Attenuation zone (Hz)

0
(c)
Vibration absorption performance (dB)

60 60

40
-20
30
20 1 = 0.008 1 = 0.01
X (dB)

0.8 Hz 0.8 Hz
X (dB)

0 0 -40
1=0.01
-20 1=0.008
-30 -60
-40 1=0.005
-58.3 -53.4 1=0.003
-60 -60 -80
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

12
 Fig.5. The vibration absorption performance of the QZS DVA under different damping.

The Fig. 6(a) shows the influence of excitation amplitude on the vibration
absorption performance. It can be seen that the anti-resonant frequency moves to higher
frequency, and the anti-resonant peak increases, as the excitation amplitude increases.
One can see form the Fig. 6(b) that the attenuation zone gradually decreases with the
increase of excitation amplitude. This is because the stiffness of the QZS DVA is of
hardening nonlinearity, leading to higher anti-resonant frequency under larger
excitation.

60 (a) 1.0 (b)

F = 5 (N)

Attenuation zone (Hz)

30 F = 10 (N) 0.8
F = 20 (N)
X (dB)

0 0.6

-30 0.4

0.2
-60

0.0
0 2 4 6 5 10 20
Frequency (Hz) F
F

Fig.6. The vibration absorption performance and attenuation zone of the QZS DVA under different
force excitations.

3.4. Influence of nonlinearity

With the increase in the excitation amplitude, the nonlinearity of the QZS DVA
become strong, and thus it should not be neglected in dynamic analysis. Fig. 7 shows
bifurcation diagrams of displacement responses for the QZS DVA and primary system
by using stroboscopic sampling, when the damping ratio is 1 = 0.01 and the excitation

frequency is  =2.4 Hz. In the bifurcation diagrams, the sample point of the
displacement responses are plotted as a function of the excitation amplitude. The zero
initial condition ( xDVA (0), xDVA (0), x(0), x(0)) =(0,0,0,0) is used only for the first

excitation amplitude, and then, the final state at the end of the time history for the last
excitation amplitude is assigned as the initial condition for the next one.
Obviously, in the initial stage, the bifurcation is a straight line, which implies that
the response is periodic. As excitation amplitude increases further, the displacement
response increases and the dynamic behavior becomes more and more complicated, e.g.
multi-harmonic or chaotic motions appear alternately. However, the displacement
amplitude reduces suddenly and the response returns periodic motion as the excitation
amplitude further increases. By comparing Fig.7 (a)-(c) with (b)-(f), it also can be seen

13
that the displacement response of the QZS DVA have the same trends as that of the
primary system with respect to the excitation amplitude.

（ a（ （ b（ （ c（

（ d（ （ e（ （ f（

Fig.7. Stroboscopic bifurcation diagrams of the displacement response (a)-(c) primary system, (d)-
(f) QZS DVA when the damping ratio 1 =0.01 and excitation frequency  =2.4 Hz

Fig. 8 shows the Poincare sections of the QZS DVA and the primary system, when
the damping ratio is 0.01 and the excitation frequency is 2.4 Hz. The upper and below
panels denote the Poincare sections of the primary system and QZS DVA under
different excitation amplitudes, respectively. From Fig. 8(a), one can see that when a
small-amplitude excitation, such as 1 N, is applied, the phase portrait is a closed curve
and the Poincare section is a point, which indicates that the response is periodic motion
with single harmonic. With the increase in the excitation amplitude, the dynamic
behavior becomes more complicated, as shown in Fig. 8(b). When the excitation
amplitude is 25 N, in the phase portrait, the Poincare section is composed of a cloud of
point with a complex edge, as shown in Fig. 8(c), which means that the response is
chaotic.

14
 （ a（ （ b（ （ c（

Fig. 8. The Poincare sections when the excitation force is (a) F=1N (b) F=23.5N, (c) F=25N
Consequently, when the excitation amplitude is in a certain range, the system
attached by the QZS DVA would undergo complicated dynamic behaviors. Moreover,
in such a case, the amplitude of the displacement responses would notably rise, and thus
the performance of vibration absorption is likely to be declined. From the perspective
of vibration mitigation at a targeted frequency, the QZS DVA is favorable to work in a
low-amplitude vibration circumstance, where complicated dynamic phenomenon
would not happen.

4. Vibration absorption under random and impulse excitation

4.1. Vibration absorption under random excitation

Consider a random excitation p(t ) with a bandwidth from 0.01 to 10 Hz applied

on the primary system, as shown in Fig. 9(a). The displacement response of the primary
system under the random excitation is illustrated in Fig. 9(b), where the dashed and
solid lines denote displacement responses with the QZS DVA and the linear DVA,
respectively. The root mean square values of the displacement responses of linear DVA
and QZS DVA are 0.0217 mm and 0.0122 mm, respectively. It can be seen that the
performance of QZS DVA is significantly better than the linear one, and the QZS DVA
can reduce much more vibration of the primary system than the linear one by 43.5%.
Note that the linear DVA is constructed by removing the negative stiffness mechanism
(oblique springs) from the QZS DVA. Obviously, the displacement response of the
system with the QZS DVA is much smaller that with the linear DVA. Therefore, the
proposed QZS DVA has high efficiency of vibration absorption under random
15
excitation within ultra-low frequency range.
0.05 (a) 0.04 (b)

0.04

Amplitude (mm)
0.02

x (mm)
0.03
0.00 linear DVA
QZS DVA
0.02
-0.02
0.01
-0.04
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s) Time (s)
Fig.9. The displacement response of the primary system under random excitation. (a) Random
excitation and (b) displacement response

4.2. Vibration absorption under impulse excitation

Consider an impulse excitation with two half-sine pulses applied on the primary
system, as depicted in Fig. 10(a). The displacement responses of the primary system
with different damping under the impulse excitation are shown in Figs. 10(b) (c) (d). In
Fig. 10(b), the root mean square values of the displacement responses of the linear DVA
and QZS DVA are 0.0025 mm and 0.0017 mm, respectively. It can be observed that the
displacement response of the primary system can be effectively suppressed by the QZS
DVA. Most importantly, the QZS DVA outperforms the linear DVA notably. Moreover,
as the damping in the QZS DVA increases, the displacement response can be suppressed
much faster, and the QZS DVA has a great advantage over the linear DVA when the
damping is relatively large. It implies that the QZS DVA with a little heavy damping
would be a good solution to attenuate the free vibration under impulse excitation as fast
as possible.
15
(a) 4
(b)
10
Amplitude (mm)

2
x (mm)

linear DVA
5 0
QZS DVA

-2
0

-4 1 = 0.001,  = 0.25
-5
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s) Time (s)

4
(c) 4
(d)

2 2
x （mm）

x (mm)

0 0

-2 -2

-4 1 = 0.003,  = 0.25 -4
1 = 0.005,  = 0.25

0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig.10. The displacement response of the primary system under impulse excitation. (a) Impulse
16
excitation, (b) displacement response

5. Experimental Verification
The experiment setup and the prototype of the QZS DVA are shown in Fig.11. The
primary system is supported by four linear springs, and each spring is fastened on a
frame. One end of the QZS DVA is rigidly fixed on the primary system. The frame with
high stiffness is used to fix guide bars, and the frame is placed on the table of the
vibration exciter. Note that the negative stiffness of the QZS DVA prototype is fulfilled
by a pair of mutually repealing magnet rings instead of oblique springs [46]. The QZS
DVA includes three parts: a positive stiffness mechanism, a NS mechanism and a mass
as shown in Fig. 11(c). The PS mechanism is a vertical spring, which not only provides
a positive stiffness, but also supports the mass. The NS mechanism is realized by a pair
of mutually repealing magnet rings, which is used to neutralize the stiffness of the PS
mechanism. The mass of the QZS DVA is installed onto a shaft with sliding bearing,
which enables the motion only in the axial direction.
(a) (b) (c)

Absorption mass

QZS

Power exciter
Primary mass
amplifier
Permanent
Computer magnet
Spring
Sensor
Vertical spring

Date collecting instrument

& Signal generator

Fig.11. Schematic diagram of the QZS DVA

17
 15 (a) 10 (b)
M = 2.9kg x0 = 3.6 mm
10

Transmissibility (dB)
Transmissibility (dB)
M = 3.1kg x0 = 2.8 mm
5
M = 3.3kg x0 = 2 mm
5
0
0
-5
-5
-10
-10 M = 2.9 kg
-15
3 6 9 12 15 2 4 6 8
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

10 (c) x0 = 3.6 mm 10 (d)

x0 = 3.6 mm
x0 = 2.8 mm x0 = 2.8 mm
Transmissibility (dB)

Transmissibility (dB)
5 x0 = 2 mm 5
x0 = 2 mm
0 0

-5 -5

-10 M = 3.1 kg -10 M = 3.3kg

-15 -15
2 4 6 8 2 4 6 8
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Fig.12. The transmissibility of linear and nonlinear system for different masses of the absorber, (a)
linear DVA, (b) M =2.9 kg, (c) M =3.1 kg, (d) M =3.3 kg

In this experiment, the transmissibility is defined as the ratio of the acceleration of

the primary system to the excitation. The transmissibility of both the QZS DVA and the
linear DVA are illustrated in Fig.12. As shown in Fig. 12(a), the anti-resonant frequency
of the system with linear DVA appears at about 7.5 Hz, and the anti-resonant frequency
slightly moves to lower frequency as the mass of the linear DVA M increases.
Moreover, for different excitation amplitudes, the transmissibility of the system
with QZS DVA is shown in Figs. 12(b), (c) and (d). It can be seen clearly that as the
amplitude of excitation decrease, the anti-resonance frequency moves to lower
frequency and the vibration absorption gets less effective. The effect of the mass on the
transmissibility is also demonstrated in Fig. 12(b), (c) and (d). Obviously, as the mass
of the QZS DVA increases, the anti-resonance frequency is shifted to lower frequency
and vibration absorption become less efficient, due to the reduction of resonant
frequency of the DVA. Most importantly, the anti-resonance frequency can be tuned
towards ultra-low frequency, e.g. as 2.3 Hz, as the excitation amplitude increases when
M =3.3 kg. Consequently, the QZS DVA enables ultra-low frequency vibration
absorption, which is much lower than the linear DVA, by sacrificing a little vibration
absorption efficiency.

6. Conclusion

In this paper, a quasi-zero-stiffness dynamic vibration absorber (QZS DVA) is

proposed to fulfill ultra-low frequency vibration attenuation of a primary system. The
18
design procedure of the QZS DVA is given, and the nonlinear dynamic characteristics
of the primary system with QZS DVA are obtained by using the harmonic balance
method and verified by numerical simulations. The experiments are also carried out to
validate the design concept of the QZS DVA. Some conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The QZS DVA has high static but low dynamic stiffness, and thus the system with
QZS DVA possesses ultra-low anti-resonance frequency.
(2) The QZS DVA can mitigate ultra-low frequency (e.g. 2.3 Hz) vibration of the
primary system, which is validated by experimental tests.
(3) Under random or pulse excitations, the QZS DVA notably outperforms the linear
DVA for vibration attenuation.
Author statement
Yaopeng Chang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing-Original draft
preparation, Investigation. Jiaxi Zhou: Methodology, Writing–review and editing,
Project administration, Resources. Kai Wang: Investigation, Revision, Project
administration, Resources. Daolin Xu: Supervision.
Declaration of interests

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal

relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper

Acknowledgments
This research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (11972152, 12002122) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(2020M672476).

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