Anechoic Stubs As a Means for Damping Frame Vibrations: Analysis Using an Exact Wave-Based Approach

This paper explores the addition of small stubs with anechoic terminations (termed herein ‘anechoic stubs’) as means for damping and/or removing vibration modes from planar frame structures. Due to the difficulties associated with representing anechoic boundary conditions in more traditional analysis approaches (e.g., analytical, finite element, finite difference, finite volume, etc.), the paper employs an exact wave-based approach, incorporating Timoshenko beams, in which an anechoic boundary is simply represented by a zero reflection matrix. Several numerically-evaluated examples are presented documenting novel effects anechoic stubs have on the vibration modes of a two-story frame, such as eliminated, inserted and exchanged mode shapes. Modal damping ratios are also computed as a function of the location and number of anechoic stubs, illustrating optimal locations as a function of mode number. Forced vibration studies are then carried-out, demonstrating reduced, eliminated, and inserted resonance response.