Dynamics of a linear beam with an attached local nonlinear energy sink

We provide numerical evidence of passive and broadband targeted energy transfer from a linear flexible beam under shock excitation to a local essentially nonlinear lightweight attachment that acts, in essence, as nonlinear energy sink—NES. It is shown that the NES absorbs shock energy in a one-way, irreversible fashion and dissipates this energy locally, without ‘spreading’ it back to the linear beam. Moreover, we show numerically that an appropriately designed and placed NES can passively absorb and locally dissipate a major portion of the shock energy of the beam, up to an optimal value of 87%. The implementation of the NES concept to the shock isolation of practical engineering structures and to other applications is discussed.