Nonlinear energy pumpin: A new paradigm for vibration isolation

We discuss passive nonlinear energy pumping from a linear (main) mechanical structure to a weakly coupled, local, passive nonlinear energy sink (NES). We show that the NES can be designed to effectively absorb vibrational energy from the main structure in a one-way, irreversible fashion. We demonstrate the occurrence of pumping cascades, where an appropriately designed NES passively extracts energy sequentially from a number of modes of the main (linear) structure, interacting individually with each mode before moving to the next. Experimental results confirm our theoretical findings. The applications of the nonlinear energy pumping phenomenon to the problem of vibration and shock isolation will be discussed.