CAN23-121: Parameter and Performance Investigation of a Multi-directional Ring Particle Damper
Date Issued
2026
Author(s)
Foster, Lydia
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Wierschem, Nicholas
University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Tennessee
Knight, J. Brent
Marshall Space Flight Center
Abstract
Particle dampers can be mounted or incorporated into vibrating host structures and consist of a chamber filled with particles, often ball-bearings. When subjected to structural vibration, the particle motion induces collisions and friction that dissipate energy, reducing the overall system response. NASA hardware is exposed to complex vibration due to its launch environment, making effective vibration mitigation essential for maintaining functionality. Additionally, NASA hardware is often subjected to multi-directional bending, torsional, and breathing modes, characterized as radial deformation of the host structure. While particle dampers offer a low-complexity and cost-efficient passive vibration control solution, previous studies have primarily focused on vibration and mitigation in one direction only. This work proposes and experimentally evaluates a multi-directional passive vibration mitigation device called a ring particle damper. A ring particle damper is composed of a hollow ring configuration, consisting of cavities filled with particles. Due to the unique geometry, the multi-directional performance of the device is unclear. An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate how the device’s parameters influence its performance and assess how effective the device is at mitigating multi-directional vibration. The ring particle damper was attached to a thin-walled hollow cylindrical host structure, exhibiting bending, breathing, and torsional modes similar to NASA hardware. The system response was evaluated using RMS acceleration, auto-power spectral densities, transfer functions, H2 norm, and H∞ norm. Across most response metrics of the performance experiments conducted, the results indicate that the ring particle damper provides effective damping of mitigating multi-directional vibration at peak displacement and acceleration locations along the host structure. Reductions of approximately 40 to 60% in modal amplitudes were observed for first bending, second bending, and breathing modes relative to corresponding control cases. The ring particle damper demonstrated potential for energy dissipation under torsional excitation. However, due to the complex coupled modal behavior of the cylindrical structure, pure torsional response mitigation remained unclear. These findings demonstrate the potential of the ring particle damper as an effective multi-directional vibration mitigation solution, and support further development of this concept.
Funding(s)
CAN23-121, Parameter and Performance Investigation of a Multi-directional Ring Particle Damper
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NASACANFullTechnicalReport_20260607.pdf
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76.9 MB
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Adobe PDF
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