On the Effect of Contact Compliance on Vibrational Smoothing of Dry Friction

High-frequency vibrations may be utilized in order to smooth the characteristics of dry friction at low sliding velocities and, consequently, quench undesired friction induced phenomena. Many studies have been published so far, most of them using classical Coulomb friction models and yielding compact results. Unfortunately, the agreement with related experimental results is insufficient. As the Coulomb model overestimates the smoothing effect, improved modelling seems to be necessary. Based on Dahl's friction model, the effect of longitudinal and transverse high-frequency vibrations on a 1-DoF-friction oscillator is investigated here. Accounting for contact compliance, a reduction of the smoothing effect is observed. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)