Experimental investigation of a single-degree-of-freedom system with Coulomb friction

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the dynamic behaviour of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDoF) system with a metal-to-metal contact under harmonic base or joined base-wall excitation. The experimental results are compared with those yielded by mathematical models based on a SDoF system with Coulomb damping. While previous experiments on friction-damped systems focused on the characterisation of the friction force, the proposed approach investigates the steady response of a SDoF system when different exciting frequencies and friction forces are applied. The experimental set-up consists of a single-storey building, where harmonic excitation is imposed on a base plate and a friction contact is achieved between a steel top plate and a brass disc. The experimental results are expressed in terms of displacement transmissibility, phase angle and top plate motion in the time and frequency domains. Both continuous and stick-slip motions are investigated. The main results achieved in this paper are: (1) the development of an experimental set-up capable of reproducing friction damping effects on a harmonically excited SDoF system; (2) the validation of the analytical model introduced by Marino et al. (Nonlinear Dyn, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-019-04983-x) and, particularly, the inversion of the transmissibility curves in the joined base-wall motion case; (3) the systematic observation of stick-slip phenomena and their validation with numerical results.