IMPACT RESPONSE AND THE INFLUENCE OF FRICTION

Non-smooth stiffness and damping characteristics are commonly encounte red in mechanical systems. The specific physical contacts considered i n this paper are impact and friction. Although these individual effect s have been the subject of quite intensive research it is their intera ction and influence on the dynamic behavior of a mechanical oscillator y system that is the subject of the current work. Dynamical systems th eory is used as a conceptual framework and comparisons are made betwee n numerical and experimental results over a relatively wide range of p arameters. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.