On the low vibration modes observed in a sphere submitted to a tangential contact force

In this paper we discuss the existence of translational and rotational displacements of a sphere submitted to a tangential contact force. On the basis of the Bogdanov and Skvortsov's works [A.N. Bogdanov, AT. Skvortsov, Sov. Phys. Acoust. 38 (1992) 224-226.] the dispersion equation has been established and solved for any value of the frequency in the case of the linear approximation. The present experimental analysis confirms that it exists two branches: an upper branch associated to the translation of the sphere and a lower branch characteristic of the rotation of the bead. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.