Energy dissipation prediction in a line of colliding oscillators

In this paper the impact of a line of adjacent structures, or oscillators, is studied using an energy formulation. The energy exchange and dissipation from a collision of a pair of oscillators is studied by creating an equivalent oscillator pair, one has the energy of the in-phase motion and the other has the out-of-phase energy. It is found that the energy exchange between colliding oscillators is proportional to the initial kinetic energy difference of the oscillators and that work in the collision is proportional to the out-of-phase energy or difference energy. The kinetic energy at contact is then related to the mean oscillator energy, permitting a power balance equation to be written for each oscillator in line. The power balance equations have three independent variables for each pair of oscillators: the oscillator time averaged energies and the phase difference. This equation is run in a time-stepping procedure, with steps at the mean collision rate. The work in the collisions and internal oscillator dissipation is output as a function of time. A parameter study is conducted to see how the work changes with oscillator: separation, contact stiffness and contact damping.