Vibration-induced friction modulation for an oscillator moving on an elastic rod

Several studies have been dedicated to altering friction forces, with external excitation being one of the approaches explored. When the latter is considered, its influence has primarily been studied within the context of discrete systems. Therefore, in this study, a moving oscillator in frictional contact with an elastic rod of finite length subjected to distributed damping is considered, to study the influence of external excitation in the presence of support flexibility on friction modulation. The modal expansion method is used to derive the modal equations of motion, which are then solved numerically. Two cases are investigated, one with the load acting on the mass and the other with the load acting on the rod. It is found that, for both cases, friction modulation varies along the rod’s length, and it differs from that obtained assuming a rigid rod. Moreover, for the load-on-mass scenario, a critical velocity is defined, providing direct insight into the friction modulation differences between flexible and rigid rod cases. For the load-on-rod scenario, large deformations are observed close to and above resonance, and geometric nonlinearity is accounted for to describe the system dynamics accurately. To link theoretical results to applications, the findings are used to qualitatively interpret slip-joint vibration-assisted decommissioning tests, and are compared with experimental results in which friction force reduction is explained through the use of elasto-plastic friction models that account for surface deformability, showing good qualitative agreements between the theoretical and experimental outcomes.