Energy dissipation in the variable stiffness couplings with a serpentine spring at the torsional vibrations

Abstract

The paper presents results of the theoretical research of the structural vibration damping in the variable stiffness couplings with a serpentine spring, which are rather widely used in the drives of the heavy engineering and machine tool products exposed to the vibration loads. When performing dynamic calculations of the drives of such machines, it is necessary to know the dissipative characteristics of their components and parts, including the indicated couplings. The paper considers the case of torsional harmonic vibrations characteristic for the coupling drive with a serpentine spring associated with twisting of the shafts connected by this coupling due to the attached parts imbalance. Quantitative characteristics of the torsional vibration energy dissipation in the couplings under consideration were studied and determined using the well-known method for estimating the vibration energy losses due to friction during slipping in the compressed parts’ contact. Mathematical model of the torsional vibration damping in a coupling was developed, which makes it possible to determine its quantitative characteristics in the form of vibration energy dissipation per cycle and the absorption coefficient depending on the coupling design parameters and the vibration process. The proposed model is implemented as an interactive application program in the MATLAB computer environment.