Spot damping anomalies

Vibration control through spot damping treatment can sometimes produce the anomalous result that some of the 'damped' modes either remain undamped or have more damping than anticipated. Several lumped parameter examples are presented, demonstrating that this is most pronounced when dissimilar modes have the same natural frequency. A plate vibration example is also presented which shows that a spot damping treatment can fail to damp certain dissimilar modes having the same natural frequency, while others have twice the damping expected. It is shown that frequency matching of damping coupled modes employing spot damping results in nodal and antinodal points at the point of application of the spot damping, and that this is the basis of the anomalous result.