Investigation on zero-gravity behavior of particle dampers

The simulation study of particle damping in microgravity or zero-gravity environments is carried out using the Discrete Element Method in this paper. The results show that the damping particles in zero-gravity environments have a reasonable damping performance only when the particle container is almost fully filled with particles and at large displacement amplitude. The damper will have little effect because the particles will come together and form a floating cluster in the middle of the container, if the vibration amplitude is less than half of the gap between the particle bed and the ends of the container. To break that floating cluster, a cross-shaped spoiler is introduced and fitted inside the container, which greatly raises the damping performance in zero-gravity environments.