Transmissibility is the most common metric used for isolator characterization. However, engineers are becoming increasingly concerned about energy transmission through an isolator at high frequencies and how the compliance of the machine and foundation factor into the performance. In this study, the transfer matrix approach for isolator characterization is first reviewed. Two methods are detailed for determining the transfer matrix of an isolator using finite element simulation. This is accomplished by determining either the mobility or impedance matrix for the isolator and then converting to a transfer matrix. One of the more useful metrics to characterize the high frequency performance of an isolator is insertion loss. Insertion loss is defined as the difference in transmitted vibration in decibels between the unisolated and isolated cases. Insertion loss takes into account the compliance on the source and receiver sides. Accordingly, it has some advantages over transmissibility which is a function of the damping and mounted resonant frequency. A static analysis is to preload the isolator so that stress stiffening is accounted for. This is followed by modal and forced response analyses to identify the transfer matrix of the isolator. In this paper, the insertion loss of spring isolators is examined as a function of several geometric parameters including the spring diameter, wire diameter, number of active coils, and height. Results demonstrate how modifications to these parameters affect the insertion loss and the first surge frequency.

No description available.

A vibration isolator is designed to reduce the vibration and structure borne noise transmitted from a vibratory source, such as machinery and equipment, to the supporting structure. The vibration and structure borne noise transmitted depends upon the dynamic properties of the foundation, the source mounting point and the vibration isolator. Therefore knowledge of the frequency dependent dynamic properties of vibration isolators is a necessary part of the acoustic prediction and control/reduction process. Vibration isolators may be characterised by measuring their four-pole parameters. A measurement procedure is proposed that employs the floating mass method, measures the direct forces and corrects for the errors introduced by the direct force measurement. Compared to the basic method, it extends the frequency limits of measurement in both directions. The development of a novel vibration isolator test facility that implements the proposed measurement procedure is described, and its satisfactory operation is experimentally demonstrated. The vibration isolator test facility is capable of characterizing vibration isolators commonly used in industrial and maritime applications, under service conditions. A method is proposed for measuring the four-pole parameters of a uni-directional asymmetrical vibration isolator under static load. The method is called the two masses method, and is suitable for determining the four???pole parameters of active vibration isolators with feedback control. The method is also applicable to uni-directional symmetrical and bi-directional symmetrical and bi-directional asymmetrical vibration isolators. It may be regarded as a universal method for characterising vibration isolators. Experimental data is presented and the method is validated. Modelling of vibration isolators is complicated by the highly non-linear nature of their rubber elements. The notion of an effective rubber cylinder is proposed to account for the barrelling of rubber elements under static load. Consequently, a general static compression model is proposed that applies to vibration isolators having unfilled and filled rubber elements of regular prismatic shapes. The model predicts the dependence of the four-pole parameters on the compression ratio of the rubber element. The predictions derived from the effective rubber cylinder and general static compression model agree excellently with experimental work of this study and other researchers.

A vibration isolator is designed to reduce the vibration and structure borne noise transmitted from a vibratory source, such as machinery and equipment, to the supporting structure. The vibration and structure borne noise transmitted depends upon the dynamic properties of the foundation, the source mounting point and the vibration isolator. Therefore knowledge of the frequency dependent dynamic properties of vibration isolators is a necessary part of the acoustic prediction and control/reduction process. Vibration isolators may be characterised by measuring their four-pole parameters. A measurement procedure is proposed that employs the floating mass method, measures the direct forces and corrects for the errors introduced by the direct force measurement. Compared to the basic method, it extends the frequency limits of measurement in both directions. The development of a novel vibration isolator test facility that implements the proposed measurement procedure is described, and its satisfactory operation is experimentally demonstrated. The vibration isolator test facility is capable of characterizing vibration isolators commonly used in industrial and maritime applications, under service conditions. A method is proposed for measuring the four-pole parameters of a uni-directional asymmetrical vibration isolator under static load. The method is called the two masses method, and is suitable for determining the four???pole parameters of active vibration isolators with feedback control. The method is also applicable to uni-directional symmetrical and bi-directional symmetrical and bi-directional asymmetrical vibration isolators. It may be regarded as a universal method for characterising vibration isolators. Experimental data is presented and the method is validated. Modelling of vibration isolators is complicated by the highly non-linear nature of their rubber elements. The notion of an effective rubber cylinder is proposed to account for the barrelling of rubber elements under static load. Consequently, a general static compression model is proposed that applies to vibration isolators having unfilled and filled rubber elements of regular prismatic shapes. The model predicts the dependence of the four-pole parameters on the compression ratio of the rubber element. The predictions derived from the effective rubber cylinder and general static compression model agree excellently with experimental work of this study and other researchers.