Free vibration analysis of a resilient impact damper

The free vibration of a vibratory system equipped with a resilient impact damper is studied. A simple model of impact damper is constructed using spring, mass and viscous damper. The important feature to be carried out in the analysis of this model is that the deformation of an impact damper during the collision with and the main mass can be formulated; therefore, the contact time is taken into consideration. This feature is important for a resilient rather than a rigid impact damper when the noise issue is concerned. The investigation showed that the effective reduction of the vibration response depends not on the number of impacts but primarily on the type of collision that the impact mass collides with the main mass face-to-face. Results also show that the clearance of an effective impact damper should be smaller than twice of the initial displacement of the main mass of the vibration system if the system is stimulated by an initial displacement only. Finally, an example of application of an impact damper on a cantilever beam is demonstrated. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.