The object of the present study is to investigate the influence of damping uncertainty and statistical correlation on the dynamic response of structures with random damping parameters in the neighbourhood of a resonant frequency. A Non-Linear Statistical model (NLSM) is successfully demonstrated to predict the probabilistic response of an industrial building structure with correlated random damping. A practical computational technique to generate first and second-order sensitivity derivatives is presented and the validity of the predicted statistical moments is checked by traditional Monte Carlo simulation. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the NLSM to estimate uncertainty propagation in structural dynamics. In addition, it is demonstrated that the uncertainty in damping indeed influences the system response with the effects being more pronounced for lightly damped structures, higher variability and higher statistical correlation of damping parameters.

An understanding of the fundamental correlation between grain size and material damping is crucial for the successful development of structural components offering high strength and good mechanical energy absorption. With this regard, we fabricated aluminum sheets with grain sizes ranging from tens of microns down to 60 nm and investigated their tensile properties and mechanical damping behavior. An obvious transition of the damping mechanism was observed at nanoscale grain sizes, and the underlying causes by grain boundaries were interpreted.

In the present work, a procedure for the estimation of internal damping in a cracked rotor system is described. The internal (or rotating) damping is one of the important rotor system parameters and it contributes to the instability of the system above its critical speed. A rotor with a crack during fatigue loading has rubbing action between the two crack faces, which contributes to the internal damping. Hence, internal damping estimation also can be an indicator of the presence of a crack. A cracked rotor system with an offset disc, which incorporates the rotary and translatory of inertia and gyroscopic effect of the disc is considered. The transverse crack is modeled based on the switching crack assumption, which gives multiple harmonics excitation to the rotor system. Moreover, due to the crack asymmetry, the multiple harmonic excitations leads to the forward and backward whirls in the rotor orbit. Based on equations of motions derived in the frequency domain (full spectrum), an estimation procedure is evolved to identify the internal and external damping, the additive crack stiffness and unbalance in the rotor system. Numerically, the identification procedure is tested using noisy responses and bias errors in system parameters.

In the rotor system, depending upon the ratio of rotating (internal) damping and stationary (external) damping, above the critical speed may develop instability regions. The crack adds to the rotating damping due to the rubbing action between two faces of a breathing crack. Therefore, there is a need to estimate the rotating damping and other system parameters based on experimental investigation. This paper deals with a physical model based an experimental identification of the rotating and stationary damping, unbalance, and crack additive stiffness in a cracked rotor system. The model of the breathing crack is considered as of a switching force function, which gives an excitation in multiple harmonics and leads to rotor whirls in the forward and backward directions. According to the rotor system model considered, equations of motion have been derived, and it is converted into the frequency domain for developing the estimation equation. To validate the methodology in an experimental setup, the measured time domain responses are converted into frequency domain and are utilized in the developed identification algorithm to estimate the rotor parameters. The identified parameters through the experimental data are used in the analytical rotor model to generate responses and to compare them with experimental responses.

The present paper discusses static and dynamic characteristics of various under sleeper pads (USP) that are to be used in the ballasted track systems as resilient vibroacoustic isolators. Four different USP samples were put to fatigue tests and static and dynamic bedding moduli were determined. The purpose of the tests, which were carried out up to 500 thousand load cycles, was to determine which USP have favourable and which unfavourable properties, taking into account their potential application as the elements used for energy dissipation and reduction of noise and vibration. The obtained results allowed the authors to indicate samples with a potential for further analysis and to reject those, which did not satisfy the adopted criteria.

The parametric anti-resonance phenomenon as an active damping tool for suppression of externally excited resonant vibration is numerically studied herein. It is well known fact that the anti-resonance phenomenon, i.e. the stiffness periodic variation by subtractive, combination resonance frequency, brings stabilization and cancelling into self-excited vibrations. But this paper aims at a new possibility of its application, namely a damping of externally excited resonant vibration. For estimation of its effect we come both from a characteristic exponent of the analytical solution and numerical solution of forced vibration of 2DOF linear system with additional parametric excitation. The amplitude suppression owing to the parametric anti-resonance is studied on several parameters of the system: a depth of parametric excitation, mass ratio, damping coefficient and small frequency deviations from the parametric anti-resonance.

The paper is devoted to grain-refinement of the medium-aluminium zinc based alloys (MAl-Zn). The system examined was sand cast Zn10

wt. %. Al binary alloy (Zn-10Al) doped with commercial Al-3 wt. % Ti – 0.15 wt. % C grain refiner (Al-3Ti-0.15C GR). Basing on the

measured attenuation coefficient of ultrasonic wave it was stated that together with significantly increased structure fineness damping

decreases only by about 10 – 20%. The following examinations should establish the influence of the mentioned grain-refinement on

strength and ductility of MAl-Zn cast alloys.

The aim of this study was to design and test an adjustable hydro-pneumatic damper for cab suspension. The goal was to make a simple and cheap solution for a damper, which is intended to be placed between the hydraulic cylinder and accumulator. Damping behaviour of different terrain types had to be taken into consideration. Terrain type varies from field to road driving and damping should react rapidly to varying conditions.

In this study, the semi-active damper has been built with a hydraulic direct acting cartridge type 2/2-way proportional flow control valve. Flow-pressure curves and dynamic tests were carried out in the laboratory. The dynamic test with forced vibration focused on stability in damping frequencies and step response between different states. Also, total damping force was measured in different damping states and the proportional valve’s precise step responses and stability were investigated in a closed hydraulic system.

As a result, this research gave a lot of new information about the proportional valve’s applicability to work as a semi-active damper and information about damping behaviour. Research showed that a proportional valve can work in a cab suspension damper as well as a multi-fixed orifice damper. Bi-directional flow in the proportional valve was found to remain stable in cab suspension working conditions. The proportional valve also has the ability to work as a continuous state damper, which could lead to better damping results with the appropriate control system.

The paper focuses on the influence of the longitudinal and lateral suspension damping in correlation with the velocity upon the vibration behaviour of the railway vehicles while moving on a tangent track. The numerical simulations are developed based on a linear model of a 17-degree of freedom vehicle that allows the evaluation of the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle in a sub-critical velocity. Based on the response frequency functions of the vehicle in a harmonic and in a random behaviour, a series of basic properties of the stable behaviour of the forced lateral vibrations has been made evident, as well as the opportunities to lower the level of the carbody vibrations by changing the suspension damping.

The paper focuses on a nonlinear model to represent the mechanical behaviour of a mix coil spring – rubber used in the secondary suspension of passenger rail vehicles. The principle of the model relies on overlapping of the forces corresponding to three components – the elastic component, the viscous component and the dry friction component. The model has two sources on non-linearity, in the elastic force and the friction force, respectively. The main attributes of the model are made visible by its response to an imposed displacement-type harmonic excitation. The results thus obtained from the applications of numerical simulation show a series of basic properties of the model, namely the dependence on amplitude and the excitation frequency of the model response, as well as of its stiffness and damping.

The article presents studies on the electromechanical system of a metallurgical horizontal looper in the steelmaking industry. During the operation of this unit, parameters in the system changes due to variations of length and mass of the steel strip, these variations significantly change elastic properties and reduce moments of inertia. Various methods of combating elastic vibrations in electromechanical systems are analyzed in this article. The article presents a description of experiments with a horizontal looper. A mathematical model for two extreme positions of the unit was developed based on experimental results. Simulation experiments were made and their results are presented. A new control system structure is proposed to reduce vibrations in the electromechanical system of a horizontal looper. A power-up sensor, adjuster and velocity derivative feedback were added into the model structure. The proposed feedback link structure takes into account the change of steel strip length. From the experimental data it follows that the proposed system provides effective damping of mechanical vibrations in the steel strip if its length during operation is changed.

The purpose of the work was to determine the infuence of the bulk density ρz of granules, processing parameters and the density of ski inserts ρw made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) on their damping properties. For this aim liners for ski helmets with 3 different bulk densities were made. Sintering time and sintering pressure were also changed. The percentage damping factor η was determined on the basis of the results obtained in the rebound resilience test. Based on the analysis of the obtained data, it was found that increasing the density of EPS pads ρw increases their damping properties and at the same time contributes to a decrease in elasticity, increase in hardness and brittleness of EPS products.