Exponential versus linear amplitude decay in damped oscillators

We demonstrate how to derive approximate expressions for the amplitude decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator in case of a damping force with constant magnitude (sliding friction) and in case of a damping force quadratic in velocity (air resistance), without solving the associated equations of motion. This is achieved using a basic understanding of the undamped harmonic oscillator and the connection between the damping force's power and the energy dissipation rate. Our ...

We derive approximate expressions for the amplitude decay of harmonic oscillations weakly damped by the simultaneous action of three different damping forces: force of constant magnitude, force linear in velocity, and force quadratic in velocity. Our derivation is based on a basic understanding of the undamped harmonic oscillator and the connection between the energy dissipation rate and the power of the total damping force. By comparing our approximate analytical solutions w...

We demonstrate how to derive the exponential decrease of amplitude and an excellent approximation of the energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator. This is achieved using a basic understanding of the undamped harmonic oscillator and the connection between the damping force's power and the energy dissipation rate. The trick is to add the energy dissipation rates corresponding to two specific pairs of initial conditions with the same initial energy. In this way, we ob...

The force of dry friction is studied extensively in introductory physics but its effect on oscillations is hardly ever mentioned. Instead, to provide a mathematically tractable introduction to damping, virtually all authors adopt a viscous resistive force. While exposure to linear damping is of paramount importance to the student of physics, the omission of Coulomb damping might have a negative impact on the way the students conceive of the subject. In the paper, we propose t...

In this paper we give a general solution to the problem of the damped harmonic oscillator under the influence of an arbitrary time-dependent external force. We employ simple methods accessible for beginners and useful for undergraduate students and professors in an introductory course of mechanics.

A pedagogically instructive experimental procedure is suggested for distinguishing between different damping terms in a weakly damped oscillator, which highclights the connection between non-linear damping and initial-amplitude dependence. The most common damping terms such as contact friction, air resistance, viscous drag, and electromagnetic damping have velocity dependences of the form constant, v, or v^2. The corresponding energy dependences of the form \sqrt{E}, E, or E\...

An approximate solution is presented for simple harmonic motion in the presence of damping by a force which is a general power-law function of the velocity. The approximation is shown to be quite robust, allowing for a simple way to investigate amplitude decay in the presence of general types of weak, nonlinear damping.

A modification of Coulomb's law of friction uses a variable coefficient of friction that depends on a power law in the energy of mechanical oscillation. Through the use of three different exponents: 0, 1/2 and 1; all commonly encountered non-viscous forms of damping are accommodated. The nonlinear model appears to yield good agreement with experiment in cases of surface, internal, and amplitude dependent damping.

The Fourier series method is used to solve the homogeneous equation governing the motion of the harmonic oscillator. It is shown that the general solution to the problem can be found in a surprisingly simple way for the case of the simple harmonic oscillator. It is also shown that the damped harmonic oscillator is susceptible to the analysis.

This study shows that typical pendulum dynamics is far from the simple equation of motion presented in textbooks. A reasonably complete damping model must use nonlinear terms in addition to the common linear viscous expression. In some cases a nonlinear substitute for assumed linear damping may be more appropriate. Even for exceptional cases where all nonlinearity may be ignored, it is shown that viscous dissipation involves subtleties that can lead to huge errors when ignore...