Experimental and numerical investigation of energy dissipation in elastomeric rotational joint under harmonic loading

This paper focuses on energy losses caused by inner damping and friction in an elastomeric rotational joint. A description of the design of a new experimental device intended to characterize dynamic stiffness in rotational elastomeric joint is presented. An original method based on Lagrange’s equations, which allows accurately measuring forces and torques only with accelerometers, is proposed in order to identify dissipated energy in the rotational elastomeric joint. A rheological model developed taking into account dependence of the torque and the angular displacement (rotation). Experimental results and simulations used to quantify the dissipated energy in order to evaluate the damping ratio are presented and discussed.