An Analytical and Experimental Study of the Prediction of Impacts in Planar Mechanical Systems With Clearances

Impacts within the clearances of machines can seriously degrade their performance. Past criteria proposed to predict the system configurations for which impacts will not occur do not consider the connection properties. Here, a simple system with clearance, called an Impact Ring Model, IRM, is studied analytically and experimentally. The results show that connection properties can plan an important role in the occurrences of impacts, and hence should be included in impact prediction criteria. A criterion, the Impact Prediction Number (IPN) which correctly predicts the trends found in this study is discussed.