LESSON 3. Free Vibration With Coulomb Damping

LESSON 3.
FREE VIBRATION WITH COULOMB DAMPING

Mass Spring Dry Coulomb Damper System. Sliding friction is the primary cause of energy
dissipation in the Coulomb damping. The loss of energy occurs due to the comparative movement
of the surfaces moving against one another. Coulomb damping was named after Charles-Augustin
de Coulomb. There are two types of Coulomb damping: wet coulomb damping and dry coulomb
damping.
Modes of Coulomb damping
Because of convenience and mechanical simplicity, coulomb dampers are used quite frequently in
mechanical systems. In vibrating systems, whenever two surfaces slide against each other,
coulomb damping appears internally. According to the Coulomb law of dry friction, “force
required to produce sliding when two surfaces are in contact is directly proportional to the normal
force acting in the plane of contact.” Mathematically, the friction force is given by
Where W is the weight of the body, whereas µ is the frictional coefficient, for example, for the
lubricated metal coefficient of friction is 0.1, for the nonlubricated metal coefficient of friction is
0.3.
Static damping occurs when the system does not undergo relative motion, or they are stationery.
Kinetic friction occurs when two bodies slide relative to each other.
Coulomb damping in the mass-spring system

Two types of vibrations in the mass-spring system are discussed below:
Free vibration in mass-spring system with Coulomb damping. Consider a system as shown in
figure below. The system is undergoing coulomb damping. We will discuss two cases as the
friction force varies with velocity direction.
Fig 2.31 System in Coulomb Damping

Equation of Motion is a piecewise function
The friction force acts in a direction opposite to the direction of velocity.
can be expressed as a single equation (using signum function)

For the solution we will assume the equation of motion is a piecewise function
1. When ẋ >0, the sign function is positive and the equation becomes,
and the solution is a harmonic motion plus a constant:
2. When ẋ < 0, the sign function is negative and the equation becomes,
and the solution is a harmonic motion plus a constant:
If we solve the equation for initial conditions
Since the mass started with an initial displacement, it moves from right to left with a negative
velocity. Starting in case 2:
This solution is valid for half the cycle only—that is, for
𝜋
When 𝑡 = 𝜔 the mass will be at its extreme left position and its displacement from equilibrium
𝑛
position can be found from
Since the motion started with a displacement of 𝑥0 and, in a half cycle, the value of x became
2𝜇𝑛
The reduction in magnitude of x in time it can be demonstrated that for the other half to the
𝑘
4𝜇𝑛
cycle the reduction is 𝑘
Free Vibration with Coulomb Damping important equations
Fig 2.32. Motion of mass with Coulomb Damping

Slope of the enveloping straight lines:
The amplitude reduces linearly with Coulomb damping and amount of Therefore:
The motion stops when 𝑥n< 𝜇𝑁/ , since the restoring force exerted by the spring (𝑘x) will then
be less than the friction force μN. Thus the number of cycles (n) that elapse before the motion
ceases is given by:
Number of cycles to stop:
Time to stop:
Characteristics of Coulomb damping:

Characteristics of Coulomb damping under free vibration are as follows.
 Equation of motion is nonlinear in the Coulomb damping case.
 With the change in Coulomb damping, the natural frequency of the system remains the
same.
 Motion is periodic for coulomb damping.
 The system comes to rest with Coulomb damping after some time.
 Reduction in amplitude is linear with Coulomb damping.
 The reduction in amplitude is by 4uN/k after each successive cycle. So, the amplitude at
the end of each consecutive cycle are related as:
The effect of Coulomb Damping differs from the effect of viscous damping in these respects:
1. Viscous damping causes a linear term proportional to the velocity in the governing
differential equation, while Coulomb damping gives rise to a nonlinear term.
2. The natural frequency of an undamped system is unchanged when Coulomb damping is
added, but is decreased when viscous damping is added.
3. Motion is not periodic if the viscous damping coefficient is large enough whereas the
motion is always periodic when coulomb damping is the only source of damping.
4. The amplitude decreases linearly because of Coulomb damping and exponentially
because of viscous damping.
5. Coulomb damping leads to a cessation of motion with a resulting permanent
displacement from equilibrium, while motion of a system with only viscous damping
continues indefinitely with a decaying amplitude.
Since the motion of all physical system ceases in the absence of continuing external excitation,
Coulomb damping appears in many forms, such as axle friction in journal bearings and friction
due to belts in contact with pulleys or flywheels. The response of systems to these and other forms
of coulomb damping can be obtained in the same manner as the response of dry sliding friction.
Example. An experiment is run to determine the kinetic coefficient of friction between a block
and a surface. The blocked is attached to a spring and displaced 150mm from equilibrium. It is
observed that the period of motion is 0.5s and that the amplitude decreases by 10mm on
successive cycles. Determine the coefficient of friction.
Solution:
The natural frequency is calculated as
2𝜋 2𝜋
𝜔𝑛 = = = 12.57 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝑇 0.5𝑠
The decrease in amplitude is expressed as
4𝜇𝑚𝑔 4𝜇𝑔
𝛥𝐴 = =
𝑘 𝜔𝑛 2
Which is arranged to yield
𝑟𝑎𝑑 2
𝛥𝐴 2 (0.01𝑚)(12.57 𝑠 )
𝜇= 𝜔 = = 0.04
4𝑔 𝑛 9.81𝑚
4( 2 )
𝑠
REFERENCES
Graham K.(2000). Fundamentals of Mechanical Vibration (Second edition). Singapore:
McGraw-Hill Bok Co.
Hu J.(2020). Numerical Study of Coulomb and Viscous Damping. Retrieved from

https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/341702/Numerical%20study%20of%2
0Coulomb%20and%20viscos%20damping.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
Rao S.(n.d). Mechanical Vibration.(sixth edition). Retrieved from

http://web.eng.fiu.edu/LEVY/images/EML3222/Mechanical%20Vibration%20CH%2
02%20Free%20vibration%20of%20SDOF%20System%20(1).pdf

LESSON 3. Free Vibration With Coulomb Damping

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LESSON 3. Free Vibration With Coulomb Damping

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

LESSON 3. Free Vibration With Coulomb Damping

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LESSON 3.

FREE VIBRATION WITH COULOMB DAMPING

Coulomb damping in the mass-spring system

Fig 2.31 System in Coulomb Damping

can be expressed as a single equation (using signum function)

and the solution is a harmonic motion plus a constant:

and the solution is a harmonic motion plus a constant:

If we solve the equation for initial conditions

Fig 2.32. Motion of mass with Coulomb Damping

Number of cycles to stop:

Characteristics of Coulomb damping:

Hu J.(2020). Numerical Study of Coulomb and Viscous Damping. Retrieved from

Rao S.(n.d). Mechanical Vibration.(sixth edition). Retrieved from

You might also like