Finite analysis of effectiveness of viscoelastic damping pockets and sinks

This paper looks at the use of viscoelastic damping pockets and 'damping sinks' to suppress structural vibration. These are in the form of holes, slots and cavities filled with a viscoelastic material. The benefits of these designed-in damping treatments are highlighted and discussed. Also the vibration response of viscoelastidy-damped beams is predicted using the finite element method. A series of cantilevered beams are considered and the damping performance of several designed-in dampers are compared to traditional CLDs. It is shown that the effectiveness of the damping pockets and sinks depends on their location and size with respect to the highly stressed regions of the beams. Although there is a practical limit on the sizes of the geometrical features that can be designed-in, it is shown that if located correctly the damping pockets and sinks can be more effective at suppressing structural vibration than traditional CLD treatments.