Analysis of a tendon-based deformation aggregation mechanism to host discrete vibration absorbers in continuum structures

This paper investigates the possibility of developing a novel vibration absorber aimed towards slender continuous structures such as wings or blades. The absorber essentially consists an axially elastic tendon guided along a series of points along the span of cantilevered laboratory beam demonstrator, such that an aggregate of its induced extensional activity is observed at a specific location. The central idea is to introduce a discrete absorber at this strategically selected point, with the tendon providing the stiffness between the absorber and the primary structure. To explore the concept, the presented experiment is aimed at providing a comparison against a reduced 2 degree of freedom representation of the combined and mutually coupled absorber system. The specific focus of this arrangement is to support the interpretation of the underlying modal characteristics of the proposed concept.