Parametric Data Collection of Spheres Rolling on an Oscillating Track

A physical model consisting of a ball rolling up and down a beam, the latter being subject to forced oscillations from an actuator, was constructed and utilized to track the location of the ball at any instant in time. From this, the response involving the position data collected subsequently enabled for the velocity and acceleration profiles to be determined. A four-bar linkage assembly was engineered and outfitted with an integrated stepper motor to minimize the dynamic unbalance of the motor onto the system and to keep the ball rolling back-and-forth smoothly. The experiment was videotaped to enable data collection of the ball as it rolled through start-and-stop measurements of its position at certain intervals of time. A parametric study on three different spheres consisting of: marble, ABS plastic, and steel, was conducted to gauge differences in the motion data collected based upon the different materials as well as sphere sizes considered. As elaborated upon in the following review of the literature, implications of this study have engineering applications to better understand the dynamics of important mechanisms such as that of pendulum-tuned mass dampers, among others, for seismic energy dissipation.