Analysis of Axial Vibration in the Laminated Rubber-Metal Spring

The laminated rubber-metal spring is well known in application as the vibration isolator for earthquake protection. The spring is therefore designed to be able to sustain the vibration waves from horizontal direction. This paper discusses the possibility of the laminated spring to be employed for other applications where the excitation mainly comes from axial direction, such as to isolate vibration transmission from heavy engine. The model is first developed for a simple finite rod to simulate the effect of internal resonances at high frequency when the wavelength is much smaller than the length of the rod. The effect of metal plates inserted in the rubber is then modelled using the lumped parameter system. The results are presented in terms of the vibration transmissibility