Imposing nodes to the normal modes of a linear elastic structure

Spring-mass systems have long been used to suppress excess vibration in structural systems. In this paper, a chain of oscillators is used as a passive means of introducing nodes for the normal modes of a one-dimensional, arbitrarily supported, linear elastic structure, where a desired node can either coincide with the oscillator chain location or can be located elsewhere. It is shown that when the oscillator chain and the node are collocated, it is always possible to induce a node at any location along the structure for any given normal mode. When the oscillator chain and the node are not collected, however, it is only possible to induce a node for certain normal modes. Finally, a procedure to guide the proper selection of the oscillator chain parameters in order to induce nodes is outlined in detail. (C) 1999 Academic Press.