Dynamic stabilization of a bistable suspension system attached to a flexible host structure for operational safety enhancement

In engineering applications, a suspension system may be attached to a flexible host structure, e.g. spacecraft truss, to provide vibration isolation for sensitive instrumentation, where the suspension and host structure dynamics are strongly coupled. For linear suspensions, a resonance normally occurs adjacent to the roll-off frequency band, which significantly and detrimentally amplifies vibration transmission. To avoid the adverse resonance for operational safety enhancement, this research proposes a nonlinear bistable suspension and evaluates its performance when attached to a flexible host structure. Dynamic models of the bistable and comparable linear suspensions attached to the host structure are formulated, and steady-state responses are predicted using analytical and numerical methods. Results show that the bistable suspension can eliminate the harmful resonance via a dynamic stabilization phenomenon, and simultaneously retains the favorable isolation performance in the roll-off bandwidth as compared to the linear suspension. Series of experimental investigations support the analytical and numerical findings and help define design guidelines for operational safety improvement.