Taylor Devices, Inc.

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Taylor Devices, Inc.

AN OVERVIEW:
ISOLATION AND DISSIPATION

Douglas P. Taylor
Taylor Devices, Inc.
N. Tonawanda, New York USA

74th Shock & Vibration Symposium

Paper U-126

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 Taylor Devices Incorporated

™ Founded in 1955 by Paul H. Taylor

™ Traditional business is 40% military with commercial
products based on proven military designs
™ Product Lines
Dampers
Shock Absorbers
Vibration Isolators
Gun Mounts
Shock Transmission Devices
Fluid Springs
Air Springs
Shock Isolation Systems
Satellite Deployment Systems

Theme:
The design of a structure or mechanism subjected to
shock and vibration can be greatly improved by the
addition of isolation or damping devices.

Improvement Areas Include:

™ Reduced Deflection and Stress
™ Reduced Weight
™ Improved Biodynamics
™ Longer Fatigue Life
™ Architectural Enhancement
™ Reduced Cost

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 Failure Inducing Phenomena
of a Transient Pulse

™ Ground Motion, Vibration

™ Ground Motion, Shock
™ Ejecta
™ Over-pressure
™ Thermal Radiation
™ Other Radiation
™ Cratering

Isolation and damping can affect the performance of a

structure under the first four items.
Isolation and damping cannot improve performance
degradations caused by the last three.

Transient Shock Response

Potential improvements from added damping and isolation . . .

Added Damping Alone:

The addition of 25% to 35% damping to a structure can
reduce both stress and deflection by 50% to 75%,
compared to the typical 5% structural damping case.

Added Isolation:
Combining springs and dampers into a practical shock
isolator can often reduce stress and deflection by up to
95%, provided that sufficient rattle space is provided.

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 The Concepts

Dampers: Dissipate energy within a system by

converting it to heat. If designed properly, damping
forces can be completely out of phase with structural
stress. Thus, the right damper can reduce stress and
deflection ~ simultaneously

Isolators: Used to provide a low frequency bypass or

connection between masses. Isolators usually include
damping and spring elements, the damping being used
to limit deflection and attenuate resonance.

Damping and Isolation ~ The Basic Math

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Magnification Factor =
2ζ

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Dampers

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 The Key to Damping

WHEN IN DOUBT, DAMP IT OUT

Greg Haskell
Haskell & Haskell
1995

Squaring the curve technique for the worst motion of a transient

Ideal Constant
F Force Response

Damping Force Spring Force

a. Determine how damping must vary with displacement during this

discrete cycle
b. Obtain data for velocity across damper at various values of X
c. You now have an idealized damping function, where:
&)
F0 = f (X

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 Types of Damping Devices

1. Structural
2. Coulomb Friction
3. Elastomer
4. Active Drivers
5. Passive Hydraulic
6. Semi-Active Hydraulic

Types of Damping Devices

Selection Criteria

When utilizing a damping device, one must have the following:

1. The exact output function of the damper over the entire

anticipated translational velocity range

2. All environmental aspects of the application, and how

these will affect damper performance

3. A software code that can accurately model the

anticipated non-linearities and environmental
performance shifts of the damping device

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 How Much Damping Can Be Used?

1. Most structures have inherent damping of 1%–5% of critical

2. Automotive suspensions have fluid dampers of 20%–25% critical

3. Truck suspensions have fluid dampers of 30%–40% critical

4. Damping of 50% critical will prevent amplification in a structure

subjected to forced resonance

5. Military applications often use damping up to 2000% of critical to

suppress weapons shock

Types of Dampers ~ One of Six

Structural Damping –

1. Inherent in a structure, not inherent in a mechanism

2. Magnitude varies widely with the design of the

structure and construction tolerances thereof

3. Can be as low as 0.5% critical for a “rigid” structure

4. Can be as high as 10% critical for massive structures

having lightweight construction and complex joints

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 Types of Dampers ~ Two of Six

Coulomb Friction Damping –

1. Often obtained by slippage of a joint, at a stress level

below that of yield

2. Can also be obtained by plastic deformation of a

plate or similar element

3. Damping can be of any value, although values of

above 10% of critical will usually begin to increase
stresses in a structure

Coulomb Friction Damping, Continued

4. Often leaves a permanent drift or offset in a structure

after the transient has passed. The higher the
damping ratio, the greater the drift

5. Damping output will vary somewhat with temperature

for plastic deformation types. Damping can vary
greatly with temperatures in a poorly designed
slipping joint

6. Damping will vary with the total number of cycles,

corrosion of the damping elements, and aging of the
damping elements. Slipping joints can deteriorate in
output if exposed to water, oil, or paint

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 Types of Dampers ~ Three of Six

Elastomer Damping –

1. All conventional elastomers have some degree of

damping inherent in their structure. So-called “high
damping” materials provide damping levels of
approximately 10% of critical

2. Great care must be exercised in the design of

elastomer dampers. Current U.S. Military
requirements restrict the use of bonding agents or
glue in the construction of these devices

Elastomer Damping, Continued

3. All elastomers produce a damping output with a high

degree of non-linearity. The output is essentially in-
phase with the system stress. Thus, elastomer damping
decreases deflection of a system while increasing stress

4. Elastomer damping devices can vary radically with

temperature. For example, a temperature shift from +20°
to +120° F will often alter elastomer damping by a factor
of fifty to one. Thus, all dynamic models must
incorporate thermal correction factors

5. Elastomers are also subject to environmental

degradation, due to age and chemical reagents

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 Types of Dampers ~ Four of Six

Active Drivers as Dampers –

1. Provided that the control system can be designed

and adequate power made available, it is possible to
use an active driver to accomplish the same
response as any type of damper

2. Any electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic device that

can be used as a driver can be used as an active
damper

Active Drivers as Dampers, Continued

3. The major concern with any driver is the availability of

power to operate the device. An analysis must be
performed at a suitably small time step to accurately
determine the average and peak power requirements
during all expected transients. This analysis must be
both accurate and conservative. Inadequate power can
cause the damper to increase system stresses to higher
levels than even the undamped case, possibly leading to
catastrophic failure

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Active Drivers as Dampers, Continued

4. Current design practice suggests that any active damper

should have a “fail-safe” or “limp-in” mode in the event
of power or control failure

5. Time delays on the acquisition of sensor data and the

response time of the controller can result in phasing
shifts in the system creating a potential instability
problem

Types of Dampers ~ Five of Six

Passive Hydraulic Damping –

A hydraulic damper absorbs energy by forcing fluid
through orifices, thereby causing the damper to apply a
force over a displacement, this force being dissipative

Classical hydraulic theory indicates that the functional

output of a damper is as follows –

F Output = C Ve^2*f(x)

Where C = Damping Constant

Ve = Fluid Velocity through the Damping Orifices
f(x) = Variance in Orifice Area with Damper Stroke Position

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 Passive Hydraulic Dampers, Continued

Modern dampers achieve much different outputs than the

classical case. These outputs are optimized for performance
in systems subjected to a highly variable pulse field, those
that are “real world” in nature. In general, an ideal damper
has an output that is completely out of phase with structural
bending and shear stresses. This allows the damper to
reduce both stress and deflection, simultaneously

Current Types ~ Passive Hydraulic Dampers

1. Fluidic – Uses specifically shaped orifice to achieve output

characteristics ranging from:
F = CV^0.4 to F = CV^1.8

2. Pressure Responsive Valve – Uses Multiple spring loaded

poppet valves:
F = CV^0.2 to F = CV^1.8

3. Metering Tube – Uses a piston which progressively covers a

series of ports – output is:
F = CV^2*f(x)
This design is effective only when tuned for a specific pulse
signature

4. Metering Pin – Similar to metering tube, but orifice is

continuously varied.

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 Test Results

Let’s consider some tests by MCEER with a complex seismic

input into a structure, with added dampers. In this case, the
seismic pulse field indicated that a linear damper, F = CV,
was a “best fit”

1-Story, No Dampers, El Centro 33.33%

Total Damping = 2%

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 1-Story, 2 Dampers, El Centro 100%
Total Damping = 22%

Types of Dampers ~ Six of Six

Semi-Active Hydraulic Damping –

A semi-active hydraulic damper actively varies the size of its
passive hydraulic orifices

a. S1 and S2 are selector

valves, to select different
orifice functions A1, A2,
A3

b. A discrete set of orifice

paths are shown, but
proportional control can
also be used

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 Advantages of Semi-Active Dampers

1. Similar performance to active drivers, but with very

little power consumption

2. Reversion to passive fixed orifice in event of failure

– a fail-safe design

Alternate designs of semi-active dampers exist where valves

are replaced with electrorheological (ER) or
magnetorheological (MR) fluids

Isolation

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 Three Keys to Shock Isolation

1. Know the input

2. Bound the output

3. Mitigate the difference between 1 and 2

Dana Johansen
U.S. Naval Sea Systems
Command
1989

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Damping and Isolation ~ The Basic Math

1
Magnification Factor = 2ζ

After Manipulation

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Shock Isolators ~ Spring Elements
Mechanical-Coil, Leaf, Wire Rope –
Advantages: Low cost, long life
Disadvantages: Bulky, large sizes unavailable

Elastomer-Tube, Block, Shear, Strap –

Advantages: Low cost, moderate life
Disadvantages: Temperature sensitive, not
manufactured in large sizes

Pneumatic –
Advantages: Compact, moderate life
Disadvantages: Temperature sensitive, difficult
to seal in large sizes

Shock Isolators ~ Spring Elements

Continued
Liquid –
Advantages: Very compact, moderate life, easy
to incorporate damping
Disadvantages: Temperature sensitive, requires
high-strength steel, somewhat expensive

Machined-Helical, Cantilever, Aperture –

Advantages: Very compact, can be made in any
size, has almost zero damping
Disadvantages: Expensive

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Mechanical Arrangement of Spring Elements

Un-Centered –
Displacement changes with load like an auto suspension

Soft Centering –
One spring element is used to precompress a second
spring element to mid-stroke

Hard Centering –
Spring is loaded by a mechanism to provide a re-centering
force in either direction from center. The hard centering
force is usually 2-4 G’s

How much damping should

be used in an isolator?

It depends . . .

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 For Transient Shocks

If pulse is well known, minimum G’s or deflection

results from large amounts of damping – more
than 40% critical

If pulse is not well known, the least risk design

will have 25% critical

For Large Cyclic Motions ~ Wind, Waves, Etc.

For large structures, most analysts suggest 8-12%

critical

For small structures, higher damping will limit

deflections, with 15-25% critical being common

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 For High Frequency Vibrations

An ideal solution for strict attenuation will have zero

damping. But, any input other than vibration can cause
an uncontrolled response

Thus, specialty damper designs exist that roll-off

their output to near zero above a specified frequency

In some simple cases, just mounting the damper with

loose fitting attachment pins can provide suitable roll-off

Isolated Response with a Hard

Centering Spring Element

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 ~ Conclusions ~

1. Damping and isolation are two very useful tools in the

world of shock and vibration

2. These are complex tools – and no manuals are

available. Thus, a close relationship with suppliers
should be established for optimal use of the
technology

3. Failure to pay attention to shock and vibration

specifications can get your program terminated. It has
happened, it is happening now, and it will happen in the
future

Damping & Isolation ~

Into the Future

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