An experimental study of a multi-particle impact damper

Abstract

In this article, an experimental study of a vertical particle impact damper under free excitation is investigated. Specific impact damping is determined for a primary structure (clamped-free beam) with an enclosure attached to its free end and containing a lead particle. The influence of some system parameters such as clearance and intensity of excitation are investigated. An analytical model based on the concept of an equivalent system with impacting mass is presented and used to compute the specific impact damping. Driven by the experimental observation, it has been shown that a high value of specific damping capacity was reached with a particle impact damper. The obtained results prove the efficiency of this process for achieving high structural damping.