Experimental and numerical study of a vibro-impact phenomenon in a gearshift cable

This paper presents a study of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a gearshift cable and more specifically of the associated tizzing phenomenon. A gearshift cable is composed of an inner wire that can slide freely in an outer composite housing. When undergoing harmonic excitation, the inner wire interacts with the housing. Hammer and swept sine shaker tests are first used to estimate the characteristics of the two main components. It is shown that the behavior of the outer housing is nonlinear and depends on the amplitude of the excitation. The assembled gearshift cable is then set up on the shaker and the nonlinear vibro-impacting phenomenon is studied. Finally a finite element model, based on the Euler–Bernoulli beams and the Rayleigh damping coefficients, proves to offer good correlation with the measured data for different excitation frequencies. A period doubling bifurcation is observed both experimentally and numerically.