KDamping: A stiffness based passive damping concept

The KDamper is a novel passive vibration isolation and damping concept, based essentially on the optimal combination of appropriate stiffness elements, which include a negative stiffness element. The KDamper concept does not require any reduction in the overall structural stiffness, thus overcoming the corresponding inherent disadvantage of the "Quazi Zero Stiffness" (QZS) or "Negative Stiffness" (NS) isolators, which require a drastic reduction of the structure load bearing capacity. Compared to the traditional Tuned Mass damper (TMD), the KDamper can achieve better isolation characteristics, without the need of additional heavy masses, as in the case of the TMD. Contrary to the TMD and its variants, such as the inerter, the KDamper substi-tutes the necessary high inertial forces of the added mass by the stiffness force of the negative stiffness element. Among others, this can provide comparative advantages in the very low fre-quency range. Moreover, since the isolation and damping properties of the KD essentially result from the stiffness elements of the system, further technological advantages can emerge, in terms of weight, complexity and reliability, It should be mentioned, that the KDamping concept does not simply refer to a discrete vibration absorption device, but it consists a general vibration ab-sorption concept, applicable also for the design of advanced materials or complex structures. Such a concept thus presents the potential for numerous implementations in a large variety of technological applications, while further potential may emerge in a multiphysics environment. The paper proceeds to a review of the optimal design and selection of the parameters of the KDamper, which follows exactly the classical approach used for the design of the TMD. It is thus theoretically proven that the KDamper can inherently offer far better isolation and damping properties than the TMD. Finally, an application concerning the implementation of the KDamper for the design of a low frequency vertical vibration isolator is presented.