Parametric excitation suppression in a floating cylinder via dynamic vibration absorbers: a comparative analysis

Parametric excitation in the pitch/roll degrees of freedom (DoFs) can induce dynamic instability in floating cylinder-type structures such as spar buoys, floating offshore wind or wave energy converters. At certain frequency and amplitude ranges of the input waves, parametric coupling between the heave and pitch/roll DoFs results in undesirable large amplitude rotational motion. One possible remedy to mitigate the existence of parametric resonance is the use of dynamic vibration absorbers. Two prominent types of dynamic vibration absorbers are tuned mass dampers (TMDs) and nonlinear energy sinks (NESs), which have contrasting properties with regard to their amplitude and frequency dependencies when absorbing kinetic energy from oscillating bodies. This paper investigates the suppression of parametric resonance in floating bodies utilizing dynamic vibration absorbers, comparing the performance of TMDs against NESs for a test case considering a floating vertical cylinder. In addition to the type of dynamic vibration absorber utilized, the paper also examines the DoF which it acts on, comparing the benefits between attaching the vibration absorber to the primary (heave) DoF or the secondary (pitch) DoF. The results show that the TMD outperforms the NES and that it is more effective to attach the vibration absorber to the heave DoF when eliminating parametric resonance in the pitch DoF.