RESPONSE OF IMPACT DAMPERS WITH GRANULAR MATERIALS UNDER RANDOM EXCITATION

This paper presents the results of an experimental and analytical study of the performance of granular material dampers with tungsten powder, as an impacting mass, under wide‐band random excitation. The influence of some of the major system parameters such as the total auxiliary mass ratio, container dimensions and intensity of the excitation are investigated using a small building model under base excitation. An approximate analytical solution based on the concept of an equivalent single‐unit impact damper is presented. Comparison between the experimental and analytical results shows that, with the proper use of the equivalent single‐particle impact damper approach, reasonably accurate estimates of the rms response of a primary system under stationary random excitation can be obtained.