Optimum absorber parameters for various combinations of response and excitation parameters

Abstract In recent papers the author has shown that when determining optimum parameters for an absorber which minimizes the vibration response of a complex system, the latter may be treated as an equivalent single degree‐of‐freedom system if its natural frequencies are well separated. Emphasis was on minimizing the displacement response when the excitation was a harmonic force. In the present paper simple expressions for optimum absorber parameters are derived for undamped one degree‐of‐freedom main systems for harmonic and white noise random excitations with force and frame acceleration as input and minimization of various response parameters. These expressions can be used to obtain optimum parameters for absorbers attached to complex systems provided that optimization is with respect to an absolute, rather than a relative, quantity. The requirement that the natural frequencies should be well separated is investigated numerically for the different cases. The effect of damping in the main system on optimum absorber parameters is investigated also.