Peripheral Restraining-Type Rubber Bearing made of Different Rubber Materials

In this paper, a peripheral restraining-type rubber bearing is proposed which has adjustable damping ability. An equation to calculate the damping ratio in a rubber bearing is derived, and the equation is confirmed through the vibration tests. The rubber bearing is composed of a core block made of superhigh damping synthetic rubber and a restraining ring made of high damping rubber surrounding the core block. Thus it is possible to vary the damping ratio of the rubber bearing by adjusting the outside diameter of the core block and the inside diameter of the restraining ring. The rubber bearings used for the tests are 0.3 scale models of actual bearings. The test has been performed, giving horizontal forced displacement to the rubber bearings, under the condition of a given vertical load. The experimental results show that the present equation is feasible for calculating the damping ratio of peripheral restraining-type rubber bearings.