Investigation of dynamic characteristics of rolling particle dampers

In this article, the investigation of the use of a rolling particle damper under sinusoidal excitation is described. A rolling particle damper is a type of ball vibration absorber and consists of a rotating cylinder placed on a curved track mounted on a primary system. The rotating cylinder is partially filled with granular materials. When the rotating cylinder rolls inside the curved track, the granular materials also move. The friction between the granular materials and the inside wall of the rotating cylinder results in some energy dissipation. A rolling particle damper can be adopted in a harsh environment because it can be operated in a wide temperature range. The effects of the mass ratio, the particle material, and the particle diameter on the damping performance were examined experimentally. To elucidate the behavior of the entire system in detail, a numerical solution using the discrete element method was established. The predicted damping results were compared with experimental results for various mass ratios. In addition, the effect of the frequency ratio on the highest displacement amplitude of the primary system was examined referring to the numerical results.