ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF A RUBBING DAMPER DEVICE WHICH GENERATES FRICTIONAL FORCE IN PROPORTION TO ABSOLUTE RUBBING DISPLACEMENT

Abstract

  In this paper, a rubbing damper device, generating frictional force in proportion to absolute rubbing displacement, is proposed in order to aid passive vibration control of frame structures. The proposed rubbing damper device is composed of a rubbing pair of concave bar and convex bar which is connected to a supported beam (which is usually fixed to object) by U-type leaf springs. Two parallel ascent interfaces and a descent interface of the rubbing pair increase assembled height of the rubbing pair in proportion to the absolute rubbing displacement of the rubbing damper device respectively. The U-type leaf springs are compressed by the rubbing pair and the supported beam, and apply compression force to the rubbing pair. Therefore, the rubbing damper device generates frictional force as damping force on the two parallel ascent interfaces or the desent interface due to the above compression force. Firstly, a basic function of the rubbing damper device and its mechanical principle are described theoretically. Then force versus displacement hysteretic curves of the rubbing damper device and a simple rigid test frame with the rubbing damper device are obtained. Finally, the hysteretic curves of the rubbing damper device and the simple rigid test frame are investigated experimentally.