Balancing energy to estimate damping parameters in forced oscillators

This study makes use of an energy balance to identify damping parameters in mechanical vibration systems. By balancing the energy input as registered in the force–displacement relationship of the real system against the energy lost theoretically in a damping model with unknown parameters, the identification algorithms are developed. We apply the estimation equations to both numerical and experimental systems, modeled with Coulomb plus viscous damping, at resonance to show the effectiveness and reliability of the new identification method. The equivalent viscous and dry-friction damping estimates obtained from the experimental system are compared to those obtained from the forced-resonance method to show their consistencies.