Performance of the bean bag impact damper for a sinusoidal external force

Abstract The performance of a resilient bean bag and a conventional rigid impact damper are compared for sinusoidal external forces. The bean bag damper is not only a better attenuator of the resonant displacement of a lightly damped oscillator but the contact forces and the noise generated by collisions are also reduced. Two semi-empirical approaches are detailed to predict the dynamic behaviour of this new damper. They both produce quite accurate forecasts of the steady displacement of the oscillator. The deformation of the bean bag itself, however, is less predictable due to its sensitivity to the contact forces.