Effects of Body Flexibility on Dynamics of Mechanism with Clearance Joint

In this paper, the dynamics characteristics of flexible mechanical system with clearance joint are investigated. The constraints of clearance joint are modeled as contact force constraints. The normal and tangential contact forces in clearance joints are modeled using a new nonlinear continuous contact force model and a modified friction force model, respectively. The flexible body is modeled by modal expansion method. Then, a planar slider-crank mechanism with clearance and flexible link is utilized as demonstrative application example to perform the investigation. The effects of body flexibility on dynamics of slider-crank mechanism with clearance are presented and discussed. The main results indicate that clearance has significant effects on dynamics responses of mechanism system. However, the body flexibility will deaden the contact and impact in clearance joints and has buffer effects for the mechanism with clearance.