Application of Single Unit Impact Dampers in Protective Systems

In the present study, free vibration of a vibratory system equipped with an impact damper, which incorporates the Hertzian contact theory, is investigated. A nonlinear model of an impact damper is constructed using spring, mass and viscous damper. As a practical case study, a five-story building is simulated in SimMechanics toolbox of MATLAB software. Performance of the impact dampers to suppress structural vibrations of the structure is studied. It is shown that the impact dampers can effectively suppress undesired vibrations of all of the building floors.. For quenching vibrations,  in order to show the ability of impact dampers , the so-called "effectiveness" is introduced. Finally, it is shown that  the impact damper can increase the effectiveness up to 34 percents.