Modal properties and stability of centrifugal pendulum vibration absorber systems with equally spaced, identical absorbers

This work develops an analytical model of centrifugal pendulum vibration absorber systems with equally spaced, identical absorbers and uses it to investigate the structure of the modal vibration properties. The planar model admits two translational and one rotational degrees-of-freedom for the rotor and a single arclength degree-of-freedom for each absorber. The gyroscopic effects from rotor rotation are taken into account. Examination of the associated eigenvalue problem reveals well-defined structure of the vibration modes resulting from the cyclic symmetry of the absorbers. The vibration modes are classified into rotational, translational, and absorber modes. Characteristics of each mode type are analytically proved. The effects of the absorber tuning order on the modes are derived. The critical speeds and flutter instability of the system are studied numerically and analytically. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.