Evaluation of properties for a passive damping device with TiNi alloy rings as energy dissipating element

摘要

A new kind of passive damping device that is composed of TiNi shape memory alloy (SMA) rings is designed. The basic mechanical behaviors of the device are investigated and its damping capacity is analyzed. There still exist hysteresis loops during loading and unloading when the deformation of the ring(s) is restricted in the horizontal direction properly, but the force-displacement curves are tilted and not parallel to the abscissa, which can improve the ability to withstand overloading. If there is no restriction, the force-displacement curves of the rings are near linear though the unloading paths are slightly different from those of loading. The basic mechanical and damping properties of the device may be changed by using different numbers of TiNi alloy rings, and the damping capacity will be increased markedly by increasing the number of rings.