Experiment Research of Axial Dynamic Vibration Absorbers Based on Magneto-Rheological Elastomers Using for Ship Shafting

Magneto-Rheological Elastomers (MREs) are a new kind of Magneto-Rheological materials mainly composed of polymer rubber and micro-sized magnetizable iron particles. Dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs) based on MREs are widely used in vibration systems with small amplitude since they have the advantages of no sealing equipments, good stability, and rapid response. This paper aims to research on the application of MREs in SDVAs for reducing axial vibration of ship shafting by experimental methods. The dynamic design principle of an axial SDVA attached to ship shafting, which is modeled as a continuous beam system, is studied. A DVA with adjustable stiffness based on MREs is proposed and its natural frequency-shift performance is tested. And, an experimental research on a model ship with scaled ratio 1:4 is carried out to verify the vibration attenuation capacity of SDVAs while propulsion shaft working on different rotation speeds. The results show that the MRE-based DVA has frequency-shift of 12.3 Hz and performs better than classic passive DVA on all rotation speeds. © 2017, Editorial Board of Journal of Ship Mechanics. All right reserved.