Determination of coefficient

of friction from oscillations

under Coulomb friction
damping
R. VENKATACHALAM*, Professor of Mechanical Engineering,
Regional Engineering College, Warangal - 506 004, India.
〈chalamrv@yahoo.com〉
Received 6th January 2000

The oscillations of a vibrating system in the presence of Coulomb friction damping is well
known. In this paper, an attempt is made to use this concept, to measure the coefficient of
friction. For this purpose, a simple pendulum, whose hinge is not free from Coulomb
friction, is considered. An experimental set-up is designed and fabricated. Experiments are
performed with different materials and the coefficients of friction are determined. Satisfac-
tory results are obtained. The work described here may be incorporated as a laboratory
experiment in applied mechanics.

Key words: friction, damping, pendulum, free oscillations

1. NOMENCLATURE
L length of the pendulum
T, T1, T2 tensions
W1–2 work done between positions 1 and 2
d diameter of the rod, which is acting as a hinge for the pendulum
h1, h2 heights of the bob above the datum
m mass of the bob
∆KE and ∆PE change in kinetic and potential energies, respectively
α semi groove angle of a grooved pulley
β angle of wrap on a pulley
µ coefficient of friction
θ angular displacement of the pendulum measured from the vertical passing
through the hinge

*
Currently, on a temporary assignment, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, Garyounis University, P.O. Box 1308, Benghazi, Libya.

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148 R. Venkatachalam

2. INTRODUCTION

In many engineering applications, friction is one of the important design criteria. There are
many situations in which the designer intends to reduce the friction; for instance, hinges,
sliding contact bearings, gears in mesh, etc. There are also occasions where the designer
intends to introduce friction, as in the case of rolling of objects, clutches, and brakes, etc.
The coefficient of friction is an important parameter in the mechanical engineering de-
signs whenever the application involves rubbing of surfaces. The coefficient of friction may
be determined directly by observing the amount of force required to move an object of
known weight, on a horizontal surface. It may also be determined, by measuring the mini-
mum angle of inclination at which the object slides on an inclined plane. Practical difficul-
ties are involved in these methods, owing to the fact that the kinetic coefficient of friction is
less than the static coefficient of friction.
The coefficient of friction may be determined by rotating one friction surface over
another under a known load and measuring the amount of torque required to rotate the
surface. Pal and Basu [1] used a method in which a normal force was applied through a small
friction surface resting on a horizontal rotating friction surface, by means of a cantilever
beam which had stiffness only in the horizontal plane. The bending of the beam in the
horizontal plane was caused by the friction force. The bending deflection of the beam was
measured, from which the friction force was estimated and thereby the coefficient of friction
was calculated.
Venkatachalam and Sitharamarao [2] proposed a method for determining the kinetic
coefficient of friction by generating self excited oscillations. The method involved
measuring the kinetic coefficient of friction from the period of oscillations of a beam kept on
two rotating discs. This method was further extended to measure the coefficient of friction
between two test surfaces, with respect to a standard pair of friction surfaces whose coeffi-
cient of friction was known. The pair of test surfaces was kept at one disc and the standard
pair of friction surfaces was kept at the other disc. With this arrangement, it was found
possible to measure the coefficient of friction from the amplitude of oscillations, instead of
the time period of oscillations. Venkatachalam and Sitharamarao [3] further suggested
another simple technique through which both the static and kinetic coefficients of friction
could be measured. This method involved observing the stick slip motion of a body kept on a
moving surface. The experimental measurements were only displacements and did not in-
volve any time measurements. This made the method more attractive.
In this paper an attempt is made to measure the kinetic coefficient of friction by observ-
ing the oscillations of a simple pendulum to which the friction is introduced at the hinge.

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL

Fig. 1 shows a schematic arrangement of the model considered. It consists of a fixed round
circular rod to act as a hinge. A wire bent in the for of a U is placed over the rod. The free
ends of the bent wire are fastened to a plate too which the pendulum wire is attached. The
bent wire, the plate, the pendulum wire and the bob together form the simple pendulum.
When it is oscillating, the U shaped wire rubs against the surface of the rod and experiences
the friction which tries to dampen the oscillations. The mass of the wires and the plate are
very small in comparison to the mass of the bob and hence the former is neglected in the
analysis to follow.

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 Oscillations under Coulomb friction damping 149

Fig. 1. Schematic arrangement of the model.

4. MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
If the hinge is frictionless and there are no other losses, then the pendulum exhibits simple
harmonic motion, the amplitude of oscillations remaining constant forever [4], as shown in
Fig. 2(a). But if there are losses, the amplitude θ1 on one side of oscillation reduces to θ2 on
the other side of the oscillation as shown in Fig. 2(b). In the model considered, the friction at
the hinge is dominating all the other losses such as the one that may arise due to the air drag.
Hence, the effect of friction alone is considered, neglecting all other losses.

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150 R. Venkatachalam

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. Oscillations of the pendulum. (a) When there are no losses; (b) when losses exist.

In the analysis, the attention is focused on the decrease of the amplitude of oscillation
from θ1 to θ2. For this, the principle of work energy [5]
∆KE = ∆PE + W1–2 (1)

is applied between the positions 1 and 2 as shown in Fig. 3. Substituting

∆KE = 0 (2a)
∆PE = mg(h1 − h2 ) (2b)
and
W1− 2 = ( d 2) (T1 − T2 ) (θ1 + θ 2 ) (2c)
in equation (1), the work energy relation may be obtained as

0 = mg(h1 − h2 ) + ( d 2) (T1 − T2 ) (θ1 + θ 2 ) (3)

where T1 and T2 are the tensions in the bent wire, which are different because of the friction
between the wire and the rod.
For small oscillations, the heights from the datum
hi = L(1 − cosθ i ), i = 1, 2 (4)
may be approximated as

hi ≈ ( L 2)θ i2 , i = 1, 2 (5)
and the tensions T1 and T2 may be approximated as
T1 + T2 = T ≈ mg (6)
where T is the tension in the pendulum wire.

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 Oscillations under Coulomb friction damping 151

Fig. 3. Application of the work–energy principle.

Using equation (5) in equation (3), the decrease in the amplitude of oscillations may be
expressed as

∆θ = ( d L ) (T1 − T2 ) mg (7)
where
∆θ = θ1 − θ 2 (8)

The tensions T1 and T2 may be related as

T1 T2 = e µβ (9)

where µ is the coefficient of friction between the rod and the wire, and β is the angle of
contact of the wire on the rod, which may be taken as π in the present case.
Using equations (6) and (9) in equation (7), the decrease ∆θ may be re-expressed as

∆θ = ( d L ) (e µβ − 1) (e µβ + 1) (10)

Equation (10) gives the reduction in the amplitude in the half-cycle of oscillation. It also
shows that this reduction is constant. Therefore, the reduction in amplitude in one complete
oscillation will be 2∆θ, and in two oscillations will be 4∆θ, and so on, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

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152 R. Venkatachalam

This idea of introducing Coulomb friction at the hinge of a simple pendulum to dampen the
oscillations is taken from reference [6].

Fig. 4. Oscillations of the pendulum under Coulomb friction damping.

5. EXPERIMENTATION

Equation (10) may be rewritten for convenience as

µβ = ln (1 + Z ) − ln (1 − Z ) (11)
where
Z = ∆θ ( L d ) (12)

In an experiment, if ∆θ could be measured, then by using equation (11) the coefficient of

friction µ may be calculated. However, if L∆θ ⭓ d, which refers to Z ⭓ 1, equation (11)
does not give any value for µ. This is because, the development of equation (10) is based on
the application of the work energy, equation (1), with an assumption that the pendulum
moves to the other side of the vertical static equilibrium position by an amount θ2 as shown
in Fig. 3.
A simple pendulum is constructed as shown in Fig. 1. A mild steel rod of diameter
d = 18 mm, is used to serve as a hinge. A groove is made on this rod in order to prevent the
slipping of the wire on the rod. The length of the pendulum L is chosen as 1 m. A mass of
1 kg is used for the bob. Provision is made to change the U shaped wire which sits on the
circular rod. With this arrangement, experiments may be performed with different materials.

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 Oscillations under Coulomb friction damping 153

The pendulum bob may be pulled to one side by an angle θ1 and released, allowing the
pendulum to swing to an angle θ2 on the other side. With these values of θ1 and θ2, the
coefficient of friction µ may be calculated using equation (11). However, in order to reduce
the experimental errors, the amplitude may be measured after two complete oscillations; that
is, θ1 and θ5 shown in Fig. 4 may be measured. As shown in Fig. 1, a circular scale is
provided near the bob. From the arc lengths recorded on this scale, the angular displacements
may be calculated with less errors.

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Experiments are performed with different wires and the coefficients of friction are calcu-
lated. One typical experimental observation is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. A typical experimental observation

Trials θ1 θ5 (θ1 – θ5) ∆θ = (θ1 – θ5)兾4

(degrees) (degrees) (degrees) (degrees)

1 30 28.0 2.0 0.50

2 20 17.9 2.1 0.52
3 10 8.0 2.0 0.50

It may be noticed that the value of ∆θ turned out to be same irrespective of the value of θ1.
The same trend has been observed in other experiments in which the wires of different
materials are tried. Table 2 presents the results of the other experiments.

Table 2. Results of the experiments with

different wires

Sample ∆θ 0 µ

Copper wire 0.6 0.42

Aluminium wire 0.5 0.34
Steel wire 0.45 0.30
Nylon wire 0.4 0.26

The values of the coefficients of friction obtained for different materials, presented in Table
2, appear to be more than the values available in the design data books. This may perhaps be
due to the groove made on the rod in which the wire slides. The effective coefficient of
friction, when a circular wire is in a grooved member is

µ effective = µ sin α (13)

where, α is the semi-groove angle. The coefficients of friction calculated with the present
experimental set-up must have already taken into account the effect of the groove angle.

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154 R. Venkatachalam

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS

The significant conclusions that may be drawn on the basis of the present work may be
summarized as follows.

(i) An experimental method of determining the coefficient of friction is proposed.

(ii) The experimental set-up is very simple in construction, and the experimental observa-
tions are also very simple.
(iii) Experiments are performed with different materials and the coefficients of friction are
calculated.
(iv) The decrease in amplitude of oscillation is found to be constant, as predicted by the
mathematical analysis.
(v) The proposed method may be very useful in obtaining the coefficient of friction
between belt/rope and plane/grooved pulleys.
(vi) The experiments may be performed with different angles of wrap β.
(vii) The work presented in this paper involves the mathematical solutions of a physical
problem followed by experimental investigations. The work can be incorporated as a
laboratory experiment with a view to illustrating a simple principle mathematically
and experimentally.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wishes to acknowledge the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Garyounis

University, Benghazi, Libya, for providing various facilities to carry out the work.

REFERENCES
[1] Pal, D. K. and Basu, S. K., ‘Hydrostatic lubrication of plastic guides’, Proceedings of Third All
India Machine Tool Design and Research Conference, The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay,
India (1969).
[2] Venkatachalam, R. and Sitharamarao, T. L., ‘Determination of coefficient of friction by generating
self excited motion’, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, 14(1), 23–30,
1986.
[3] Venkatachalam, R. and Sitharamarao, T. L., ‘Determination of static and kinetic coefficients of
friction by generating stick slip motion’, International Journal of Applied Engineering Education,
3(2), 131–137, (1987).
[4] Beer, F. P. and Johnson Jr., E. R., Vector Mechanics for Engineers—Dynamics, McGraw Hill Book
Company, New York, pp. 946–948, 1990.
[5] Meriam, J. L. and Kraige, L. G., Engineering Mechanics, Volume 2–Dynamics, 3rd edn. John Wiley
and Sons Inc., New York, pp. 460–465.
[6] Steidel Jr., R. F., An Introduction to Mechanical Vibrations, 3rd edn., John Wiley & Sons Inc., New
York, p. 194.

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education Vol 29 No 2