Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Stiffness-Optimized Vibration Isolators on Vibration Transmission in Cylindrical Shell Structures: A Comparative Land-Based and Underwater Study

Optimizing isolator stiffness is essential for controlling vibration transmission in cylindrical shell structures operating in cross-environment conditions. This study investigates the influence of isolator stiffness on vibration transmission and fluid-coupled response through coordinated land-based experiments, water-immersed experiments, and ABAQUS simulations. Two damped spring isolators with stiffness values of 290 N/mm and 970 N/mm were tested under representative excitations of 25 Hz and 40 Hz. The results show that the lower-stiffness isolator provides consistently stronger vibration attenuation and produces higher vibration level differences than the higher-stiffness isolator. The measured vibration level differences between land-based and water-immersed conditions remain generally within 3 dB, indicating good cross-environment consistency. The numerical results agree well with the experimental trends, with deviations generally below 5 dB in the main low-frequency range. Mechanism analysis indicates that reducing isolator stiffness weakens the transmission of excitation energy from the raft frame to the base and shell, thereby reducing near-field fluid-coupled response around the excitation region. These findings support the use of lower-stiffness isolators and provide a practical framework for vibration assessment and parameter selection in cylindrical shell structures working under coupled air–water conditions.