Inherent Stability of Multibody Systems with Variable-Stiffness Springs via Absolute Stability Theory

In this paper, the inherent stability problem for multibody systems with variable-stiffness springs (VSSs) is studied. Since multibody systems with VSSs may consume energy during the variation of stiffness, the inherent stability is not always ensured. The motivation of this paper is to present sufficient conditions that ensure the inherent stability of multibody systems with VSSs. The absolute stability theory is adopted, and N-degree-of-freedom (DOF) systems with VSSs are formulated as a Lur’e form. Furthermore, based on the circle criterion, sufficient conditions for the inherent stability of the systems are obtained. In order to verify these conditions, both frequency-domain and time-domain numerical simulations are conducted for several typical low-DOF systems.