Coulomb damping: Dry Friction

- It arises when bodies slide on dry surface.

- For motion to begin, there must be a force acting upon the body that overcomes
the resistance to motion caused by friction.
- The day friction force is parallel to the surface and proportional to the force
normal to the surface.
- The normal force is eual to
the weight
W
in the case of
the mass-spring system shown
in Fig.
- The constant of proportionality is the static friction coefficient s

, a number
varying between ! and " depending on the surface materials.
- #nce the motion is initiated, the force drops to k
W
, where k

id the $inetic
friction coefficient, whose value is generally smaller than that of s

.
- Te friction force is opposite in direction to the velocity, and remains constant in
magnitude as long as the force acting on the mass, m, namely , the inertia force
and the restoring force due to the spring, are sufficient to overcome the dry
friction.
- %hen these forces become insufficient, the motion simply stops.
- The euation of motion can be written as

( ) sgn !
d
mx F x kx + + && &
&'()
%here *+gn,

,+ign of,. It represent a function having value -" if its argument

x&
is positive and the value ." if its argument is negative.

- /athematically, the function can be written as

( )
x
Sgn x
x

&
&
&
&'0)
where d
F
the magnitude of the damping force
k

&'1)
- 2uation &'() is nonlinear, but it can be separated into two linear euations, one
for positive and another for negative
x&
as follows:

!
d
mx kx F x + > && &
&3!)

!
d
mx kx F x + < && &
&3")
FI4
- 2uations &3!-3") are perhaps non homogeneous &i.e. they can be regarded as
representing forced vibration), however the damping forces are passive &constant)
in nature, so that we can still analyse these euations for free vib.
- The solution of ens. &3!-3") can be obtained for one time interval at a time,
depending on the sign of
x&
.
- %ithout loss of generality, we assume that the motion starts from rest with the
mass m in the displaced position
( )
!
! x x
, where !
x
is sufficiently large that the
restoring force in the spring e5ceeds the static friction force.
- 6ecause in the ensuing motion the velocity is negative, we must solve en. &3")
first, where the euation can be written in the form

' '
n n d
x x w f + &&
&3')
with
' d
n d
F k
f
m k

d
f
represents the euivalent displacement.

'
" "
d d n d
F kf f
m m

2uation &3') is sub7ected to the initial conditions
( )
!
! x x
and
( ) ! ! x &
, so that solution
is simply
For no motion
' '
!
n n d d
x x f x f &&
For motion
( ) cos cos
n n d
x t A t B t f + +
( ) ( )
! !
! ! ! x x x v &
( )
( )
( )
( )
!
!
!
!
!
sin cos
!
x
d
d
n n
n
x A f
A x f
x t A t B t
x v B

+

+
+
Z
&
& Z
! B
( ) ( )
!
cos
d n d
x t x f t f +
8nswer. &39)
%hich represent harmonic oscillation superposed on the average response d
f
.
- 2n. &39) is valid for "
! t t
, where "
t
is the time at which the velocity reduces to
:ero and the motion is about to reverse direction from left to right.
- Differentiating en. &39) with respect to time, we obtain
( ) ( )
!
sin
n d n
x t x f t &
&3;)
- +o that the lowest nontrivial value &i.e. apart from :ero) satisfying the condition
( )
"
! x t &
is "
n
t

, at which time the displacement is

( ) ( )
" !
'
d
x t x f
&3<)
- If
( )
"
x t
is sufficiently large in magnitude to over come the static friction, then the
mass acuires a positive velocity, so that the motion must satisfy the euation

' '
n n d
x x f + &&
&3()
%here
( ) x t
is sub7ected to the initial conditions

( ) ( )
" !
'
d
x t x f
and
( )
"
! x t &
The solution of en. &3() is
For no motion
' '
!
n n d d
x x f x f &&
For motion
( ) cos sin
n n d
x t A t B t f +
Initial conditions of another half-cycle of motion:

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
" ! "
! ' ! !
d
x x t x f x x t & &

( ) ( ) ( )
! !
! ' 3
d d d
x x f A f A x f

( ) ! ! .sin ! cos ! !
n
x A B B +
o o
&
8nswer

( ) ( )
!
3 cos
d n d
x t x f t f
&30)
- Compared to en &39), the harmonic component in solution &30) has an amplitude
smaller by ' d
f
and a negative constant component, namely - d
f
.
- The solution of en. &30) is valid in the time interval " '
t t t
, where '
t
is the ne5t
value of time at which the velocity reduces to :ero.
- This value is '
'
n
t

&reference to the time is at

! t
!
x x
and
( ) ! ! x &
) at which
time the velocity is ready to reverence direction once again, this time from right to
left. From &30)
( ) ( ) ( )
' ! !
'
3 cos ' 9
d d d
n
x t x f f x f

_


,
- The displacement at '
t t
is
( )
' !
9
d
x t x f
- The procedure can be repeated for '
t t >
, every time switching bac$ and forth
between ens. &3!) = &3").
- >owever, a pattern seems to emerge, rendering this tas$ unnecessary .
- #ver each half-cycle the motion consists of a constant component and a harmonic
component with freuency eual to the natural freuency n

of the simple spring-

mass system, where the duration of each half-cycle is
n

- The average &constant) value of the solutions alternates between d

f
and d
f
, and
at the end of each half-cycle the displacement magnitude is reduced by
' ' ?
d d
f F k
- It follow that in Coulomb damping the decay is linear with time, as opposed to the
e5ponential decay for viscous damping.
- The motion stops abruptly when the displacement at the end of a given half-cycle
is not sufficiently large for the resorting force in the spring to overcome the
static friction.
- This occurs at the end of the half-cycle for which the amplitude of the harmonic
component is smaller than
'
d
d
F
f
k

- @etting n be the number of the half-cycle 7ust prior to the cessation of motion,
we conclude that n is the smallest integer satisfying the in euality

( )
!
' " '
d d
x n f f <
&31)
The plot
( ) x t
versus t can be obtained by combining solutions &39), &30), etc. +uch a plot
is shown in Fig.
Fig
25ample
8 single-degree-freedom system consists of a mass of '; $g and a spring stiffness of
;!!! A?m. The amplitudes of successive cycles are found to be <!, ;;, ;!, 9;, 9!, ---
mm. Determine:
&a) the nature and magnitude of the damping force.
&b) the freuency of the damped vibration
+olution:
&a) 8mplitude of the successive cycles are given as <!, ;;, ;!, 9;, 9!, --- mm. That is, the
amplitudes of successive cycles diminish by ; mm or
3
; "!

m.
The system has coulomb damping. Therefore,

3
9
; "!
N
k

or
( )
( ) ( )
3
3
; "! ;!!!
; "! <.';A
9 9
k
N

_


,
>ence, damping force
<.';A
&b) The freuency of damped vibration
;!!!
"9."9'"rad?sec
';
n
k
m

25ample Coulomb damping:
!
0cm x
&from euilibrium position)
!.0sec
d
T
Beduction in amplitude per cycle
!.9
cm
&i)

C &between bloc$ = surface)
&ii)
n
C &number of cycles of motion e5ecuted by the bloc$ before it stops)
&i)
( )
' '
(.0;9 rad?s,
!.0
n d
d
F mg
T


9
d
F
k

reduction in amplitude per cycle
'
!.9 "!

m
( )
'
'
9 9
!.9 "!
n
mg g
k

fig
( )
'
'
!.9 "! (.0;9
!.!!<3
9 1.0"
k

-8nswer
&ii)

( )
'
! ! !
'
'
" " "
" " "
' ' '
(.0;9 0 "! "
" 31.;
' !.!!<3 1.0"
n
d
kx kx x
n
F mg g

1 1 1

1 1 1
] ] ]
1

1

1
]

9! n
8nswer