Modeling of micro-friction in a multi-layer metal plate damper for a rotor support system

The energy dissipation of multi-layer metal plate damper is realized by dry friction caused by the micro-motion between adjacent layers when the damper is deformed. In the study, the damper is modeled with a single layer continuous beam with uniform thickness, in which the stress status is analyzed when the damper is deformed. The contact surface of the beam is simplified to discrete elements to analyze the energy dissipation based on Mindlin model. A finite element model is used to simulate the energy dissipation process to rectify the theoretical calculation. Considering the distribution and the intensity of the friction force at the contact area, the simulated results of micro friction on the contact surface have the good agreement with the experimental ones, which is beneficial to the wear and failure analysis of the multi-layer metal plate damper.