ELASTIC IMPACT OF SPHERES ON LARGE RECTANGULAR PLATES

Abstract

In this paper, we numerically solve the elastic impact problem of flat plate resting on a linear chain of spherical balls. The system's governing equations are derived using the Hertz contact theory based approach. We use numerical analysis to demonstrate that one can obtain a very high number of intermittent collisions in the chain by placing small balls between the larger ones. Increasing the number of collisions significantly increases energy absorption due to impact. We exploit this feature to develop an impact based vibration suppression scheme of rectangular plate.