
However, the application of the second impact has less effect as the damping
is increased. It is noted that the nondimensional half period of damped oscil-
lations is thus, for z 0.05, we have that
Therefore, for lightly damped systems, it is possible to
greatly reduce the magnitude of oscillations after the application of another
impulse if the second impulse is applied at a time approximately equal to the
half period of its damped oscillation.
EXAMPLE 6.3
Stress level under impulse loading
Consider the spring-mass-damper system shown in Example 6.1, and assume
that the top of the spring is welded to the mass. The welding is over an area
A
w
4 mm
2
, and the allowed maximum stress for the weld material is s
w,max
150 MN/m
2
. For an impulse of magnitude 100 N s, we shall determine
whether the stress level in the weld material will be below the maximum
allowed stress. It is assumed that z 0.25, m 200 kg, k 800 N/m, and
therefore, v
n
2 rad/s.
The impulse is given by Eq. (6.2) with f
o
100 N s, and the correspon-
ding displacement response of the system is determined from Eq. (6.4a).
Then, the force acting on the weld material is determined and from the
maximum value of this force, the maximum stress experienced by the weld
material during the motions is determined. This value is compared to the max-
imum allowed stress level, s
w,max
. The force acting on the weld material is
given by
(a)
The maximum force on the weld is given by Eq. (a) when x(t) x
max
, where
x
max
is given by Eq. (6.6). From Eq. (6.8), we find that
(b)
and, therefore,
(c)
Then, from Eq. (6.6), x
max
is
(d)
By using Eqs. (a) and (d), the maximum force on the weld is
(e)f
weld,max
kx
max
800 0.178 142.4 N
x
max
100
200 2
e
1.318/3.873
0.178 m
tan w tan 1.318 3.873
w tan
1
a
21 z
2
z
b tan
1
a
21 .25
2
.25
b 1.318 rad
f
weld
1t 2 kx1t2
#
#
v
n
T
1
/2 3.137.
v
n
T
1
/2 p/ 21 z
2
;
296 CHAPTER 6 Single Degree-of-Freedom Systems Subjected to Transient Excitations