Control of multi-span beam vibration by a random wave reflector

Abstract

In this paper, a new wave reflector called random wave reflector (RWR) is introduced for the control of transverse vibration and wave propagation in an infinite, multi-span, simple-support beam. In order to illustrate the theory, RWR is first tested in a simple configuration of controlling plane wave propagation through layers of gas media. Results demonstrate that RWR has great advantages over other types of noise abatement methods. RWR is then applied to control the vibration of the multi-span beam in which the support locations are given in a random manner. Two types of external excitations, an incident vibration wave and an external point force, are considered separately. Transmission loss, localization factor, mode shape and input power flow are used to investigate the effectiveness of RWR. The results show that no vibrational power flow can be tapped into or propagate through a random system at any frequency. The passbands, which always exist in traditional systems, are eliminated in a random system for which much better performance is obtained over a broad frequency range.