On the Anti-Vibration Effect of Rubber Inserted in a Vehicle Suspension of Two-degrees-of-freedom

Abstract

In recent times, rubber is widely used as a vibration and shock isolator in the vehicle suspension of two-degrees-of-freedom such as railway cars or automobiles, solely at the damperrod hinges in the shape of rubber bushing or sometimes as the cushion seat for both the steel springs and the damper. It seems to the authors from a qualitative analysis of the system that such uses of rubber present no positive effect in isolating small vibrations, and to ascertain the above expectation some experiments were carried out using a model vibration system and a vibrating table. The response of the main mass to small harmonic excitation was measured by means of an unbonded type of strain gauge accelerometer and a new type of transistor D.C. amplifier, the result showing that the rubber bushing at the eye of the damper-rod did not serve as a vibration isolator in the case where either the rubber was loaded or unloaded with the main mass.