Stick-slip motion in a friction oscillator with normal and tangential modecoupling

The note deals with a two-degree-of freedom frictional oscillator in contac t with a surface moving at constant velocity. The mass of the system can os cillate freely on a vertical spring inside the slider. The contact between the slider and the surface is characterized by a constant friction coeffici ent. The paper describes the construction of solutions including those lead ing to a limit cycle: with stick-slip. The conditions on the parameters tha t lead to the existence of these limit cycles are derived. This analysis sh ows that the coupling between normal and tangential vibrations can lead to stick-slip phenomena. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.