Aeolian vibrations: possible effects of nonlinear behaviour of Stockbridge dampers

The measurement of aeolian vibrations which were carried out in situ convinced the authors that the efficiency of Stockbridge dampers was not solely connected with the amount of energy which they could absorb. In fact it is possible to have an aeolian vibration damping mechanism based on the distortion of reflected waves by dampers with no other stresses for the end of span impedances than the existence of high nonlinearities. One of the nonlinearities due to Stockbridge dampers which is important is the coupling which they provide between two modes of protected spans. Te function of this coupling is difficult to demonstrate theoretically. In practice, the authors were able to verify that counterweights which do not dissipate energy but which produced a coupling of the same type are also good disturbers of aeolian vibrations