Influence of the characteristics of isolation and mitigation devices on the response of single-degree-of-freedom vibro-impact systems with two-sided bumpers and gaps via shaking table tests

During strong earthquakes, structural pounding may occur between structures (buildings, bridges, strategic facilities, critical equipment, etc.) and the surrounding moat wall because of the limited separation distance and the deformations of the isolator. An arrangement that favors the solution of this problem is the interposition of shock absorbers. Thus, the influence of geometrical and mechanical characteristics of isolation and mitigation devices on nonlinear, nonsmooth response of vibro-impact systems is experimentally investigated in this paper on the basis of a laboratory campaign of experimental tests. Shaking table tests were carried out under a harmonic excitation in order to investigate two different configurations: the absence and the presence of bumpers. Three different values of the table acceleration peak were applied, four different amplitude values of the total gap between mass and bumpers were considered, and also four different types of bumpers were employed; moreover, two problems were addressed, namely, control of excessive displacements and control of excessive accelerations, and hence, two types of normalization were adopted in order to better interpret experimental results. Suitable choices of pairs of bumpers and gaps were suggested as a trade-off between conflicting objectives. Furthermore, a numerical model was proposed, and its governing parameters identified in order to simulate the experimental results

Scenarios in the experimental response of a vibro-impact single-degree-of-freedom system and numerical simulations

In this paper, possible scenarios within the experimental dynamic response of a vibro-impact single-degree-of-freedom system, symmetrically constrained by deformable and dissipative bumpers, were identified and described. The different scenarios were obtained varying selected parameters, namely peak table acceleration A , amplitude of the total gap between mass and bumpers G and bumper’s stiffness B. Subsequently, using a Simplified Nonlinear Model results in good agreement with the experimental outcomes were obtained, although the model includes only the nonlinearities due to clearance existence and impact occurrence. Further numerical analysis highlighted other scenarios that can be obtained for values of the parameters not considered in the experimental laboratory campaign. Finally, to attempt a generalization of the results, suitable dimensionless parameters were introduced

A two-dimensional continuum model of pantographic sheets moving in a 3D space and accounting for the offset and relative rotations of the fibers

Recently growing attention has been paid to the particular class of metamaterials which has been called pantographic. Pantographic metamaterials have the following peculiar features: (i) their continuum model, at the macroscale, has to include a term of the deformation energy depending on the second gradient of placement, (ii) they can show an elastic behavior in large deformation regimes, and (iii) they are resilient and tough during rupture phenomena (dell'Isola et al. 2015). In order to predict pantographic metamaterials' mechanical behavior, it is possible to introduce a three-dimensional continuum micromodel, in which their internal geometrical microstructure is described in detail. However, the computational costs of this choice are presently prohibitive. In this paper, we introduce a reduced order model for pantographic sheets-which are an example of an elastic surface-whose kinematics include, for each of the two constituting families of fibers fully independent three-dimensional (i) placement and (ii) rotation fields. In this way it is possible to include, also in the reduced order model, (i) the initial and the actual offset between the fibers and (ii) the deformation energy of the interconnecting pivots. By postulating a simplified expression for the deformation energy we prove that also a reduced order model can describe some experimental observed buckling and postbuckling phenomena. The promising results which we present here motivate the quest of more general expressions for deformation energy capable of capturing the fully nonlinear behavior exhibited by pantographic sheets

Are higher-gradient models also capable of predicting mechanical behavior in the case of wide-knit pantographic structures?

The central theme of this study is to investigate a remarkable capability of a second-gradient continuum model developed for pantographic structures. The model is applied to a particular type of this metamaterial, namely the wide-knit pantograph. As this type of structure has low fiber density, the applicability of such a continuum model may be questionable. To address this uncertainty, numerical simulations are conducted to analyze the behavior of a wide-knit pantographic structure, and the predicted results are compared with those measured experimentally under bias extension testing. The results presented in this study show that the numerical predictions and experimental measurements are in good agreement; therefore, in some useful circumstances, this model is applicable for the analysis of wide-knit pantographic structures