Experimental Synchronization Study of the Gyroscopic Vibration Absorber

Analysis of the Gyroscopic Vibration Absorber (GVA) is made with a view to improve its effectiveness as a linear synchronous absorber. Theoretical consideration reveals that much of the nonlinearity of the governing equations of motion of the structure-absorber system involves terms containing an absorber parameter I_E. The experimental development of a GVA for which this parameter is made to vanish by appropriate proportionment of certain absorber moments of inertia is shown to be feasible. Laboratory tests examining the nulling potential of this experimental GVA show that linear synchronization of the antiresonant frequency to the speed of the GVA rotor can be obtained for a wider range of excitation frequencies than when the absorber parameter is not equal to zero. Comparison of the experimental results with analytical predictions is also favorable.