Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597

www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x(Print)/1976-3824(Online)
DOI 10.1007/s12206-017-0111-7

Effects of restitution coefficient and material characteristics on dynamic response of

planar multi-body systems with revolute clearance joint
Xupeng Wang1,2, Geng Liu2,*, Shangjun Ma2 and Ruiting Tong2
1
Department of Industrial Design, Xian University of Technology, Xian, 710048, China
2
Shaanxi Engineering Laboratory for Transmissions and Controls, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, 710072, China

(Manuscript Received April 29, 2016; Revised August 25, 2016; Accepted October 8, 2016)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract

To study the effects of restitution coefficient and material parameters on the dynamic characteristics of planar multi-body systems with
revolute clearance joints, a comprehensive methodology for clearance revolute joints in a planar multibody system is presented and ana-
lyzed. A new nonlinear contact force model, which accounts for the axial length of bearing and has a wide suitable range of impact situa-
tion, is presented to evaluate the contact force between journal and bearing. Furthermore, a modified Coulomb friction force model also
presented to consider the effect of friction in clearance joint. Then, a typical journal-bearing model and a planar slider-crank mechanism
has revolute clearance joint are used as examples. From the main numerical results under the different restitution coefficient and material
parameters, it can be concluded that coefficient of restitution has significant effects on dynamic response of multi-body systems with
revolute clearance joint. Additionally, materials of journal and bearing with smaller Youngs modulus will cause obvious delay on dy-
namic response of multi-body systems.
Keywords: Revolute clearance joint; Contact force model; Restitution coefficient; Material dimensions; Multi-body system dynamics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

effects of joint clearance on dynamics of a partly compliant

1. Introduction
mechanism, found that the clearance joints make the system
Clearance as a characteristic of actual joint is inevitable in performance worse, but the small-length flexural pivot can
multi-body system, due to the demand of relative motion, effectively minimize this undesired influence. Erkaya et al.
errors caused by manufacturing and assembly, as well as fric- [10] also did a comparative analysis of clearance joint and
tion and wear [1, 2]. Furthermore, joint clearance is the source small-length flexural pivot effects on compliant mechanism;
of impact force, which will not only lead to vibration, noise the results show that the small-length flexural pivot has sus-
and wear, but also influence the reliability, stability and accu- pension effects to decrease the influence of clearance joint,
racy of mechanism system [3]. and also makes the journal and bearing keep contact. Erkaya
A great number of studies about the influence of clearance and Uzmay [11] did a research about the influence of joint
joints on kinematic and dynamic behaviors of multi-body clearance and link flexibility on the dynamic characteristics of
systems have been presented. Based on the most frequently mechanism with clearance joint; the results show that consid-
used model introduced by Lankarani and Nikravesh [4], Flo- ering the effect of flexible link, the vibration frequency and
res et al. made a numerical and experimental investigation of amplitude are less than those in rigid mechanisms. Yaqubi et
the effects of diametric clearance size, the input crank speed al. [12] studied the nonlinear dynamics of a crank-slider
and numbers of clearance joints on the dynamic response of mechanism with single and multiple clearance joints, and
planar slider-crank mechanism [5, 6]. Flores [7] also studied provided a control scheme to reduce the effects of clearance
the dynamic characteristics of multibody systems with multi- joints. Based on considering the effects of harmonic drive and
ple clearance joints. Based on numerical simulation and ex- link flexibility, Li et al. [13] did a dynamic analysis, wear and
perimental approaches, Koshy et al. [8] studied the influence optimization design of a planar mechanism with multiple
of contact force model on the multibody dynamics. Erkaya et clearance joints. Alves et al. [14] presented a comparative
al. [9] made a numerical and experimental research about the investigation on the most relevant viscoelastic contact force
*
models; the results show that the selection of the contact force
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 88460411, Fax.: +86 29 88460411
E-mail address: npuliug@nwpu.edu.cn model has strong influence on the dynamic behavior of con-

Recommended by Associate Editor Junhong Park tacting solids. Based on the modified elastic foundation model,
KSME & Springer 2017
588 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597

Fig. 1. Clearance joint with axial length.

Liu et al. [15] presented a new contact force model, and the
model was verified by the finite element analysis results. Bai Fig. 2. Revolute clearance joint with contact.
et al. [16, 17] extended the Lankarani-Nikravesh model and
the improved Winkler elastic foundation model, then intro-
duced a new hybrid contact model for revolute clearance joint. c = RB - RJ , (1)
Wang and Liu [18-20] also set up three different contact force
models, which are suitable for different conditions, and their where RB and RJ are the radii of bearing and journal.
model presented in Ref. [20] appears to have a wide range of Fig. 2 shows a clearance journal-bearing joint with contact
impact situation, especially with low coefficient of restitution. in a multibody system. Points OB and OJ indicate the centers
Ma et al. [21] extended the Lankarani-Nikravesh model and of bearing and journal, RBO and RJO represent the positional
elastic foundation model, and presented a hybrid contact force vectors of the bearing and journal in the globe inertia coordi-
model, which is more effective than Lankarani-Nikravesh nate XOY, respectively. The eccentricity vector e can be writ-
model for the situations of small clearance and low restitution ten as
coefficient. Based on Hertz contact law, Hu and Guo [22]
presented a new dissipative contact force model that is valid e = RBo - RJo . (2)
for soft and hard contact problems.
It is well known that the coefficient of restitution is depend- The value of e is calculated as
ent on the parameters of the material. But in fact, different
heat and surface treatment can cause changes about the sur- e = ex2 + ey2 . (3)
face characteristics of materials, and then affect the restitution
coefficient of impact. So our main aim was to reveal the influ- The indentation between contact face of the journal and the
ence of restitution coefficient and material parameters on the bearing can be written as
dynamics response of mechanism with clearance joint. For
this purpose, a new impact force model and an improved Cou- d = e - ( RB - RJ ) . (4)
lomb friction force are presented in Sec. 2; then in Sec. 3,
numerical simulations are shown and discussed based on a The relative impact velocity vector between journal and
typical journal-bearing clearance joint model, and a planar bearing are evaluated as [5]
slider-crank mechanism which has a clearance joint in con-
necting rob and slider. In Sec. 4, we will draw the conclusions
(
d rBO - RJO )n+
of this paper. n=
dt
(r O
B - RJO ) (w B - wJ ) t , (5)

2. Modeling revolute joint with clearance in multi-

body system where B and J are the bearing and journal angular velocities,
tangential vector t can be obtained by rotating the normal vec-
2.1 Model of clearance joint
tor n in the clockwise direction by 90.
In general kinematic and dynamic analysis of multibody So the relative impact velocities to the plane of collision can
system, the joints which are used to connect adjacent two bod- be calculated as [5]
ies are summed as ideal or perfect, the so-called journal-
bearing. In fact, the existence of clearance in journal-bearing n N = n T n
joint is inevitable. The clearance also introduces two extra T
(6)
n T = n t
degrees, which are horizontal and vertical displacements.
Fig. 1 depicts the clearance joint with axial length, the radial
clearance between journal and bearing can be evaluated as [5, where vN and vT are impact velocities in the normal and tan-
20] gential directions, respectively.
 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597
2.2 Model of contact force
To efficiently depict the contact effect between journal-
bearing joint with clearance, a large number of contact force
models were established based on Hertzs model. But all these
models, even the most frequently used model which is pre-
sented by Lankarani and Nikravesh [4], are all more suitable
for larger clearance size with lower external load, and with
higher restitution coefficient. Wang and Liu [20] extended the
previous authors work and introduced a new nonlinear model
for clearance joint, which contains information of impact ve-
locity, material properties and geometry dimensions of journal
and bearing. This model appears to have a wide suitable range
of impact situation; even the restitution coefficient is 0.3. The
model can be stated as [20]
FN = K d n + Dd&
3(1 - cr2 )e 2(1-cr )d&
p E * Ld n 1 1
= ( ) 2 (1 +
2 2(c + d ) 4d& ( - )
where is the penetration depth shown in Eq. (4), n is the
coefficient depend on materials which is usually set to 1.5 for
metallic material, cr represents the restitution coefficient,
d& and d& ( - ) depict relative impact velocity and initial impact
velocity, respectively. K is the contact stiffness which is writ-
ten as
* n
p E Ld 1 1
K= ( ) 2,
2 2(c + d )
where L is the length of bearing, E depicts the composite
modulus of the journal and bearing, and can be evaluated as
1 - u12 1 - u22 -1
E* = ( + ) ,
E1 E2
where E1,2 and 1,2 are Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio of
journal and bearing, respectively.
A relative sliding motion appears between the contact sur-
faces of journal and bearing, so the friction force should also
be evaluated in clearance joint, and Coulomb friction force
model is the most frequently used model. But Coulombs
model does not consider the effect of tangential velocity on
friction force during impact, and cannot deal with the problem
of the transformation of friction state during numerical inte-
gration, which is caused by different tangential velocity, so an
improved Coulomb friction force model is presented to con-
sider the friction effect [19]. The model is illustrated in Fig. 3,
which can be written as
FT = - m (vT ) FN sign(vT ) ,
where (vT) is the dynamic friction coefficient, and can be
written as
589
Fig. 3. Modified Coulomb friction force model.
m (VT ) =
m d sign(vT ) vT vd
2
vT - vs vT - vs
- m d + ( m s - m d ) 3 - 2 sign(vT ) vs vT vd
v - v vd - vs
d s
(7)
) v + v 2 v + v 3
2 m d 3 T d
-2
T d
-0.5 vT vs
2vd 2vd
(11)
where vs and vd are critical velocities of static friction and dy-
namic friction, s and d represent static friction coefficient
and dynamic friction coefficient, respectively.
3. Numerical example
To verify the rationale of the improved nonlinear contact
(8)
force model, and study the influences of restitution coefficient
and material properties on dynamics response of multi-body
systems with clearance joint, a typical journal-bearing model
and a planar slider-crank mechanism which has a clearance
join are introduced as examples.
(9)
3.1 Example 1: Simple journal-bearing model
It is assumed that the bearing is fixed and the journals ini-
tial impact velocity is 0.3 m/s [2]. The journal and bearing
have same material properties that Youngs modulus is
207 GPa, Poissons ratio is 0.3. The mass of journal is 0.04 kg,
the axial length of bearing is 15 mm, and the radii of bearing
and journal are 10 mm and 9.9 mm, respectively.
Fig. 4 depicts the relations of velocity-indentation based on
the improved model and classical L-N model. When the coef-
ficient restitution increases from 0.3 to 0.9, the value of depart
velocity of bearing based on improved model is 0.098 m/s,
0.145 m/s and 0.269 m/s, respectively. And the results based
on L-N model are 0.205 m/s, 0.218 m/s and 0.274 m/s, respec-
tively. But according to theory of Newton's impact restitution
coefficient, the depart velocity of bearing is 0.09 m/s, 0.15 m/s
and 0.27 m, respectively. So the improved model is more ac-
(10) curate than the classical L-N model.
In Fig. 5, the relations of force-indentation and velocity-
indentation are utilized to illustrate the influence of bearing
length on the dynamic performance of journal-bearing model.
590 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597

1800
Improved model L=10mm
0.3 L-N model 1600 L=15mm
L=30mm
Indentation velocity v(m/s)

0.2 1400 L=40mm

1200
0.1

Force [N]
1000
0
800

-0.1 600

400
-0.2
200
-0.3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Indentation (m) Indentation[m]

(a) Cr = 0.3 (a)

Improved model 0.3

0.3 L-N model
Indentation velocity v(m/s)

0.2 0.2

0.1

Velocity[m/s]
0.1
L=10mm
L=15mm
0 0 L=30mm
L=40mm

-0.1 -0.1

-0.2
-0.2

-0.3
-0.3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Indentation (m) Indentation[m]

(b) Cr = 0.5 (b)

Fig. 5. Journal-bearing contact model with different value of bearing

length: (a) Force-indentation relation; (b) velocity-indentation relation.

with different restitution coefficients and material parameters

(c) Cr = 0.9
Fig. 4. Simulation results under different restitution of coefficient.
As illustrated by Fig. 5, when the value of bearing length in-
creases from 10 mm to 40 mm, the maximum impact forces
are 1009.9 N, 1189.7 N, 1573.3 N and 1766.6 N, and com-
pression indentations are 4 m, 3.4 m, 2.6 m and 2.3 m,
respectively. But the value of depart velocity is fixed as
0.269 m/s, which means the improved model is effective for
different values of bearing length.
The relations of force-indentation and velocity-indentation
are shown in Figs. 6 and 7.
As illustrated by Fig. 6, when the coefficient of restitution
decreases from 1 to 0.5, the outcomes of impact forces differ
in an obvious manner: The lower restitution coefficient, the
smaller impact force, as well as compression indentation.
These results are caused by the energy dissipation during the
impact process and restitution process, which is shown by the
second term of Eq. (6). And the lower coefficient means that
there is larger energy dissipated, and with the lower separation
speed, this also can be illustrated by Fig. 6(b).
From Fig. 7, material parameters also have obvious effects
on the impact response of bearing and journal model: The
higher Youngs modulus, the larger impact force, but lower
compression indentation.
3.2 Example 2: Slider-crank mechanism
Fig. 8 depicts a planar mechanism, which has a clearance
joint between connecting rod and slider; other joints are as-
sumed to be ideal and all bodies are rigid. The crank and con-
necting rod are 50 mm and 300 mm, respectively. And the
 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597 591

mass of crank, connecting rod, and slider is 0.194 kg, 1.062 kg &&
xG3 - cosq 2 2 - sin q 2
and 0.281 kg, respectively. The inertia property of the con- && = L2 w2 + L2 a2
yG3 - sin q 2 cosq 2
necting rob is 0.034 kgm2. Youngs modulus of steel, ductile (15)
- cosq3 2 - sin q3
iron, copper and aluminum is 207 GPa, 173 GPa, 106 GPa + AG3 w3 + AG3 a3
and 69 GPa, respectively. Poisson's ratio of the corresponding - sin q 3 cosq3
materials is 0.3, 0.3, 0.324 and 0.33. The dynamic simulation
parameters are listed in Table 1.
The vector representation and the impact forces defined as a Table 1. Parameters used in the dynamic simulations.
function of the input link position, which are shown in Figs.
Parameter Value
9(a) and (b), respectively.
According to Fig. 9, the positions and accelerations of the Coefficient of friction 0.01
mass centers for crank and connecting rod are written as Critical velocities of static friction vs 0.1 mm/s [23]
Critical velocities of dynamic friction vd 10 mm/s [23]

xG2 Static friction coefficient s 0.3 [23]

cosq 2
= OG2 (12) Dynamic friction coefficient d 0.25 [23]
yG2 sin q 2
Diameter of bearing 20 mm
xG3 cosq 2 cosq3
= L2 + AG3 (13) Width of bearing 15 mm
y
G3 sin q 2 sin q3 Integrator scheme Runge-Kutta
&&
xG2 - cosq 2 2 - sin q 2 Max integration step size 0.00001s
&& = OG2
y w2 + OG2 a2 (14)
G2 - sin q 2 cosq 2 Integration tolerance 0.000001

1400
cr=1 0.3
cr=0.9
1200
cr=0.7
cr=0.5 0.2
1000 Cr=0.9
Cr=0.7
Velocity [m/s]

0.1
Cr=0.5
Force [N]

800
Cr=0.3
0
600
-0.1
400
-0.2
200
-0.3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Indentation [m] Indentation [m]

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Journal-bearing contact model with different restitution coefficients: (a) Force-indentation relation; (b) velocity-indentation relation.

1200
Steel-Steel Steel-Steel
0.3 Steel-Copper
Steel-Copper
1000
0.2
800
Velocity [m/s]

0.1
Force [N]

600
0

400 -0.1

200 -0.2

-0.3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Indentation [m] Indentation [m]

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Journal-bearing contact model with different materials: (a) Force-indentation relation; (b) velocity-indentation relation.
592 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597
Fig. 8. Slider-crank mechanism with a clearance joint.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 9. Slider-crank mechanism with a lubricated clearance joint: (a)
Vector representation; (b) representation of joint forces.
where L2 is the length of crank, 2 and 2 are the angular ve-
locity and angular acceleration of crank, 3 and 3 are the
angular velocity and angular acceleration of the connecting
rob.
As shown in Fig. 9(b), equilibrium conditions of each link
can be written as
Fi ( i+1) x + F( i+2)( i+1) x = m( i+1) &&
xG ( i+1) ,
Fi ( i+1) y + F( i+2)( i+1) y = m( i+1) g + m( i+1) &&
yG ( i+1) ,
M G ( i +1) = I G ( i+1)q&&( i+1) ,
where Fi(i+1)x and Fi(i+1)y represent the joint forces that act on
link (i+1) due to link i along X-direction and Y-direction, xG(i+1)
and yG(i+1) denote the accelerations of link (i+1) along X-
direction and Y-direction, respectively. And MG(i+1) are the
external moments exerted on link (i+1), and (i+1) are the angu-
lar accelerations of link (i+1).
The reaction forces and relative velocities in clearance joint
are given as
0.36
Ideal joint
cr=0.3
0.34 cr=0.5
cr=0.7
cr=0.9
Slider position [m]
0.32
0.3
0.28
0.26
0.24
0 180 360 540 720
Crank angular position []
Fig. 10. Slider displacement for different restitution coefficients: Two
rotation periods of crank.
Fx = Ft sin q 4 + Fn cosq 4
(19)
Fy = - Ft cosq 4 + Fn sin q 4
n n L&4Cosq 4 - L4w4 Sinq 4 Cosq 4
=& , (20)
n t L4 Sinq 4 + L4w4Cosq 4 Sinq 4
where 4 represents angle made by the eccentricity vector of
journal and bearing centers with X-axis, as illustrated in Fig.
9(a), 4 is the corresponding angular velocity, and L&4 repre-
sents the line velocity of slider along X-direction.
At the beginning of simulation, it is assumed that the crank
and the rod are aligned in the X-direction, with a constant
crank speed of 500 rpm, and the radial clearance size is also
constant of 0.1 mm during the dynamic simulation.
Figs. 10-15 depict the simulation results, with radial clear-
ance size of 0.1 mm, crank speed of 500 rpm, and materials of
journal-bearing are all steel. The values for restitution coeffi-
cients are chosen to be 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9.
Figs. 10 and 11(a) show that the restitution coefficients do
not have obvious effects on slider displacement and velocity.
But from Fig. 11(b), it can be concluded that errors between
the ideal result and results with clearance are increasing, when
restitution coefficients increase from 0.3 to 0.9. In sharp con-
trast, near the dead points of the mechanism, such as
(16) 180360 and 540the slider acceleration is significantly
(17) shaky around the ideal value caused by joint reaction force in
clearance joint as shown in Fig. 12. With the larger restitution
(18) coefficient, the vibration becomes more obvious, and the vi-
bration amplitude is also larger, which also can be illustrated
by Fast Fourier transformation (FFT) analysis of slider accel-
eration for different coefficients of restitution. As depicted in
Fig. 13, the main vibration frequencies are all near 4~12 Hz
with the amplitude of 38 m/s2, and high frequencies are during
150~350 Hz, but the vibration amplitudes become larger when
the restitution coefficients increase from 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 to 0.9.
From Figs. 14 and 15, it can be concluded that similar be-
havior also can be illustrated by the joint reaction force and
 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597 593

3
Ideal joint -1.6 Ideal joint
cr=0.3 cr=0.3
2 cr=0.5 cr=0.5
cr=0.7 -1.8 cr=0.7
cr=0.9 cr=0.9

Slider velocity [m/s]

Slider velocity [m/s]
1
-2

0
-2.2

-1
-2.4

-2
-2.6

-3
0 180 360 540 720 360 540
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 11. Slider velocity for different restitution coefficients: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

500
Ideal joint Ideal joint
400 cr=0.3 0 cr=0.3
cr=0.5 cr=0.5
300 cr=0.7 cr=0.7
Slider acceleration [m /s]

Slider acceleration [m /s]

cr=0.9
-50
cr=0.9
2

2
200
-100
100
-150
0

-100 -200

-200 -250

-300
-300
-400
0 180 360 540 720 360
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 12. Slider acceleration for different restitution coefficients: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

150 150

125

100 100
Amplitude [m/s ]

Amplitude [m/s ]
2
2

75

50 50

25

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

(a) (b)
150 150

125 125

100 100
Amplitude [m/s ]

Amplitude [m/s ]
2

75 75

50 50

25 25

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz]

(c) (d)

Fig. 13. FFT analysis of slider acceleration for different restitution coefficients: (a) cr = 0.3; (b) cr = 0.5; (c) cr = 0.7; (d) cr = 0.9.
594 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597

120
Ideal joint 90 Ideal joint
110 cr=0.3 cr=0.3
cr=0.5 cr=0.5
80
100 cr=0.7 cr=0.7
cr=0.9 cr=0.9
Joint reaction force [N]

Joint reaction force [N]

90 70

80
60
70
50
60

50 40
40
30
30

20 20
0 180 360 540 720 540
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 14. Joint reaction force for different restitution coefficients: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

15
Ideal joint 6
Ideal joint
cr=0.3 cr=0.3
cr=0.5 cr=0.5
4
10 cr=0.7 cr=0.7
cr=0.9 cr=0.9
Crank moment [Nm]

Crank moment [Nm] 2

5
0

0 -2

-4
-5
-6

-10
0 180 360 540 720 540
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 15. Crank moment for different restitution coefficients: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged.

0.38
Ideal joint Ideal joint
3 Steel-Steel
Steel-Steel
0.36 Steel-Iron Steel-Iron
Steel-copper 2 Steel-Copper
0.34 Steel-Aluminum Steel-Aluminum
Slider velocity [m/s]
Slider position [m]

1
0.32

0
0.3

0.28 -1

0.26 -2

0.24 -3
0 180 360 540 720 0 180 360 540 720
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

Fig. 16. Slider displacement for different materials: two rotation peri- Fig. 17. Slider velocity for different materials: two rotation periods of
ods of crank. crank.

crank moment curves: (i) Based on the influence of clearance, 0.7 to 0.9, the amplitude of reaction force and moment are all
the reaction force curves of clearance joint and crank moment increased.
curves have obvious vibration near the dead points of mecha- Figs. 16-20 show the simulation results for the case of
nism, (ii) when coefficient of restitutions change from 0.3, 0.5, clearance size of 0.1 mm, crank speed of 500 rpm and co-
 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597 595

200
Ideal joint Ideal joint
Steel-Steel Steel-Steel
150
Steel-Iron Steel-Iron
Steel-Copper Steel-Copper
Slider acceleration [m /s]

Slider acceleration [m /s]

100 Steel-Aluminum Steel-Aluminum
2

2
50

-50

-100 -150

-150

-200
0 180 360 540 720 360
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 18. Slider acceleration for different materials: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

70
Ideal joint Ideal joint
57
Steel-Steel Steel-Steel
65
Steel-Iron 56 Steel-Iron
Steel-Copper Steel-Copper
55
Joint reaction force [N]

60 Steel-Aluminum Joint reaction force [N] Steel-Aluminum

54
55 53
52
50
51

45 50
49
40 48
47
35
0 180 360 540 720 360
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 19. Joint reaction force for different materials: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

Ideal joint
3 Ideal joint
Steel-Steel 0.5
Steel-Steel
Steel-Iron
Steel-Iron
2 Steel-Copper
Steel-Copper
Steel-Aluminum 0
Crank moment [Nm]

Crank moment [Nm]

Steel-Aluminum

1
-0.5
0

-1
-1

-2 -1.5

-3
0 180 360 540 720 180
Crank angular position [] Crank angular position []

(a) (b)

Fig. 20. Crank moment for different materials: (a) Two rotation periods of crank; (b) enlarged view.

efficient of restitution, 0.3. The material of bearing is steel, but placement and velocity are very small, and the results for dif-
the material of journal is steel, ductile iron, copper and alumi- ferent material parameters are similar. (ii) With the influence
num, respectively. of clearance, the results of slider acceleration, joint reaction
As shown in Figs. 16-20, (i) the effects of clearance on dis- force and crank moment all have obvious vibration, especially
596 X. Wang et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 31 (2) (2017) 587~597
near the dead points of mechanism, and the amplitude for the
condition of steel-steel is also slightly larger than those based
on steel-ductile iron, steel-copper and steel-aluminum, which
also can be illustrated by Figs. 18(b)-20(b). (iii) From Fig.
18(b) it is clear that the slider acceleration curves based on
steel-copper and steel-aluminum have obvious delay when
compared with the results of steel-steel and steel-iron. Mean-
while, the result of steel-aluminum has slighter delay than that
of steel-copper, and steel-irons results have slighter delay
than steel-steels, which also can be found in Figs. 19(b) and
20(b). The reason for this phenomenon is that according to the
material combination of steel-steel, steel-iron, steel-copper
and steel-aAluminum, the contact stiffness is gradually de-
creased.
4. Conclusion
A comprehensive methodology for clearance revolute joints
in a planar multibody system has been presented and analyzed.
Based on a new nonlinear impact force model and a modified
Coulomb friction model, the effects of impact and friction
between journal and bearing are obtained. To perform a para-
metric study of dynamic response, the restitution coefficient
and material parameters were selected to analyze a typical
journal-bearing model and a planar slider-crank mechanism
with clearance between connecting rob and slider.
From the main numerical results under the different restitu-
tion coefficient and material parameters, some important con-
clusions are drawn as follow. (1) Restitution coefficient and
material characteristics have small influence on displacement
and velocity of multi-body systems, but the effects on accel-
eration, reaction force in clearance joint and drive moment are
obvious. (2) With the same clearance size, drive speed and
material parameters, the main frequency and high frequency
of slider acceleration FFT results are almost the same when
the coefficient of restitution is increased from 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7
to 0.9, but the amplitude of high frequency is obviously in-
creased. (3) The material parameter of Youngs modulus also
has influence on the dynamic characteristics of a mechanism
with revolute clearance joint. The results of slider acceleration,
reaction force and crank moment with smaller Youngs
modulus have an obvious delay, and the lower Youngs
modulus, the more obvious delay.
Also, the effects of flexibility of links, multiple clearance
joints, wear in clearance joints and lubrication in the study are
not considered, which can also influence the response of the
multi-body systems, so our future research will consider these
parameters based on the results of this paper.
Acknowledgment
The research is supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51505381, 51275423 and
51675429), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Pro-
gram of Higher Education (Grant No. 20126102110019), The
111 Project (Grant No. B13044), and the Fundamental Re-
search Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No.
3102015JCS05008). The authors would like to express their
appreciation to the agencies.
Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------
c : Radial clearance
E : Youngs modulus
e : Eccentricity vector
FN : Normal force component
FT : Tangential force component
K : Stiffness coefficient
L : Length of the bearing
n : Normal vector
RB : Bearing radius
RJ : Journal radius
t : Tangential vector
vN : Impact velocity in the normal direction
vT : Impact velocity in the tangential direction
vs : Critical velocity of static friction
vd : Critical velocity of dynamic friction
: Indentation between contact face of the journal and the
bearing
: Friction coefficient
s : Static friction coefficient
d : Dynamic friction coefficient
: Poisson ratio
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Xupeng Wang is a Senior Engineering
in Xi'an University of Technology. He
received his M.S. in Xi'an University of
Technology and Ph.D. in Northwestern
Polytechnical University in Xi'an, China.
His research intersts include CAD/CAE,
multibody impact dynamics, virtual
prototype design, structural optimization
design, etc.
Geng Liu is a Professor and Supervisor
of Ph.D. students and Director of the
Institute for Engineering Design and
Simulation at Northwestern Polytechni-
cal University (NWPU) in Xi'an, China.
He received his M.S. in NWPU and
Ph.D. in Xi'an Jiao Tong University. He
started teaching at NWPU in 1982. His
research interests include mechanical dynamic design, me-
chanical systems dynamics, simulation and virtual prototype
design, tribology, contact mechanics, and numerical methods.
Shangjun Ma is an Assistant Re-
searcher at Northwestern Polytechnical
University (NWPU) in Xian, China. He
received his M.S. and Ph.D. in NWPU.
His research interests include electrome-
chanical actuator (EMA) and planetary
roller screw mechanism (PRSM).
Ruiting Tong is currently an Associate
Professor in Northwestern Polytechnical
University, China. His research interests
include multiscale method, contact me-
chanics, nanoscale friction, etc.