Experimental evidence of energy transfer and vibration mitigation in a vibro-impact acoustic black hole

An experimental demonstration of the broadband passive damping capacity of a vibro-impact acoustic black hole (VI-ABH) is reported. A VI-ABH is an adaptation of the classical ABH design consisting of a beam with a tapered edge of decreasing thickness creating an acoustic black hole (ABH), complemented by contact points on which the beam impacts during its vibration. The contact nonlinearity creates a rapid and efficient transfer of vibrational energy from the low-frequency range, where the ABH is known to be ineffective, to the high-frequency range, thus improving the global passive vibration mitigation characteristics. The optimal design of a VI-ABH follows the rule of locating the contact points at local maxima of the low-frequency modes. Experiments clearly demonstrate the gain in performance, both in forced and free vibrations.