Nonlinear Tuned Mass Damper for self-excited oscillations

The effects of a class of nonlinear Tuned Mass Dampers on the aeroelastic behavior of SDOF systems are investigated. Unlike classical linear TMDs, nonlinear constitutive laws of the internal damping acting between the primary oscillator and the TMD are considered, while the elastic properties are keept linear. The perturbative Multiple Scale Method is applied to derive a set of bifurcation equations in the amplitude and phase and a parametric analysis is performed to describe the postcritical scenario of the system. Both cubic- and van der Pol-type dampings are considered and the dependence of the limitcycle amplitudes on the system parameters is studied. These new results, compared with the previously obtained bifurcation scenario of a SDOF aeroelastic oscillator equipped with a linear TMD, show a detrimental effect on the maximum limit-cycle amplitude reduction of the nonlinear TMD. However, the analyses evidence that in the parameter region away from the perfect tuning condition the nonlinear connection can be used to tune the system with an enhancement of the limit-cycle amplitude reduction.