Effect of particle shape on the efficiency of granular dampers

¹ University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
² University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

^* e-mail: hamzeh.pourtavakoli@fau.de
^** e-mail: eric.parteli@uni-koeln.de
^*** e-mail: thorsten.poeschel@fau.de

Published online: 30 June 2017

Abstract

Granular dampers, containers partially filled with granular material, are often applied for attenuating mechanical vibrations in a broad range of systems. However, the role of the particle shape on the performance of the damper has remained largely uncertain and is investigated here by means of particle-based simulations. It is found that, for large excitation amplitudes (collect-and-collide regime), particle shape nearly does not affect the damper’s performance. For low excitation amplitudes (gas-like regime), a dependence on the average dissipated energy per cycle on the particle shape is found. In this regime, the spherical particle geometry leads to the highest damper’s efficiency.