Multi-direction vibration isolation with quasi-zero stiffness by employing geometrical nonlinearity

• A novel scissor-like structure is employed to construct a three-direction isolator.
• The nonlinear stiffness and damping characteristics can be designed via structural parameters.
• The system can achieve very excellent quasi-zero stiffness in vibration control in three directions.
• The structural nonlinearity is an effective way for beneficial nonlinear stiffness/damping design.

The study proposes a novel vibration isolator with 3D quasi-zero-stiffness (QZS) property. The remarkable feature of the proposed system is to apply symmetrically scissor-like structures (SLS) in the horizontal directions, together with a traditional spring-mass-damper system assembled vertically with positive stiffness. With the mathematical modeling of the proposed system, it is shown that the stiffness and damping properties are nonlinear due to nonlinear geometric relations within the SLSs and both can be adjusted via structural parameters of the system. Theoretical analysis with the harmonic balance method reveals that the system can demonstrate QZS property in 3 directions, and can achieve much better 3D vibration isolation performance, including high-static and quasi-zero-dynamic stiffness, and much larger displacement range around equilibrium, compared with an existing QZS system in the literature. The results provide a novel and significant multi-direction vibration isolation method using structural nonlinearity with noticeable performance but using only passive elements.