Vibration Control on Shells through Theoretical and Numerical Analysis

A theoretical and numerical study has been performed on an air film damper attached to a plate structure. Combined with the analysis by Fox and Whitton, a damping model of the air film damper has been developed. A complex stiffness was introduced to represent the air pressure in the damper cavity. The stain energy and dissipated energy were integrated from the real part and imaginary part of the complex stiffness to determine the stiffness and damping. The response of the plate with the air film damper was considered by treating the air film as multiple discrete damping-stiffness elements using ANSYS.