Nodalization Applied to Helicopters

A new passive vibration isolation method has been developed which offers less static deflection and lower transmissibility at the operating frequency than conventional passive isolators. The method consists of attaching the object to be isolated to nodal points which are developed when an elastic beam is excited by a vibrating source. Attachment at the nodes dynamically decouples the driving and driven systems in a frequency band making isolation independent of the mass of the driven system. The immediate application is to eliminate helicopter fuselage vibration; however, because of its generality, it can be used wherever conventional isolators are used in isolating a limited range of vibration frequencies.