Design parameters optimization of a particles impact damper

Particles impact damping is one of the promising technologies used for the passive mitigation of vibrations. Through the dynamic impact and friction between particles, particles impact damper is able to reduce or eliminate vibratory energy under kinetic shape. Due to the simplicity of this type of damper and the operating frequency band, it is widely used in civil engineering. On the other hand it can operate in aggressive environments including high temperature or humidity. In this paper, the dynamic behaviour and efficiency of this process to reduce vibrations are highlighted. Using a simple analytical model, a clamped-free beam coupled to a particles impact damper, the influence of some system parameters is investigated. The proposed model is, then, validated through a comparison of simulated responses with experimental results established in a previous work. It is noticed that the nonlinear behaviour and the large number of their design parameters make the determination of its participation in damp very complicated. For this reason, it is crucial to seek optimal design parameters of the particles impact damper. In this context, an optimized method based on a genetic algorithm is proposed. The obtained results demonstrate the satisfactory side of this approach to identify the optimal parameters of the considered particles impact damper. Consequently, the developed approach may be constitutes an aid, for the engineer, to choose particles impact damper parameters according to the characteristics of the vibrating structure to be studied.