title: Unsteady processes in machines.
abstract: Couplings in machines and mechanisms always have play and friction. While under loading, stick-slip phenomena and impact events can take place. Such processes are modeled as multibody systems whose structure is time variant or unsteady. The time-variant number of degrees of freedom is due to stick-slip contacts. The coupling characteristics become unsteady, for instance there exist jumps in the loads, if impacts occur. For establishing a uniform theory for such phenomena we use a Lagrangian approach connecting the additional constraint equations and the equations of motion by Lagrange multipliers, which are proportional to the constraint forces. Stick-slip and impact events are evaluated by indicator functions leading to special numerical algorithms for the search of switching points. Contact problems are formulated as a complementarity problem which can be solved by efficient algorithms. The theory is applied to rattling in gears, impact drilling machines, turbine blade dampers, and a woodpecker toy. In some of these applications, chaos as a result of bifurcations is possible, which results from variations in the parameters. (c) 1994 American Institute of Physics.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl B fur Mechanik, Technische Universitat-Munchen Arcisstrasse 21, D-80333 Munchen, Germany.
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer