EG-353: Springs With Negative Zero and Infinite Stiffness - Research Report

Internal Code: MAS6846

Research Report:

Negative-stiffness is seen in structures that feature snap through motions and is a key feature of structures that are bistable - ie. stable in two different shapes. In parallel with a conventional positive stiffness, it can be used to create a spring with zero stiffness - with promising applications in vibration isolation. In series with a positive spring, it would appear that it is possible to create infinite stiffness, but I might be wrong about this! The objective is to create and measure some simple negative, zero and infinite stiffness springs, and measure them under static and dynamic loads- potentially observing rich and chaotic responses.