Damping performance of bean bag dampers in zero gravity environments

• The DEM model of BBDs in 0 gravity environments is established.
• The damping effects of BBDs and NOPDs in 0 gravity environments are compared.
• The effects of parameters on the damping performance of BBDs are studied.
• The damping effects of BBDs in gravity and 0 gravity environments are compared.

Bean bag dampers (BBDs), developed from impact damping technology, have been widely applied in engineering field to attenuate the vibration of a structural system. The damping effect of a BBD on vibration control in ground gravity environments is good, but its performance in zero gravity environments is not clear, and there are few studies on it. Therefore, the damping effect of BBDs in zero gravity environments was investigated based on the discrete element method (DEM) in this paper. Firstly, a three-dimensional DEM model of a BBD was established, and the damping effects of the single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems with BBDs and non-obstructive particle dampers (NOPDs) in zero gravity environments were compared. Moreover, the influences of the diameter of the inner ball, the tightness of BBD, the vibration frequency of SDOF system and the gap between BBD and cavity on the vibration reduction effect of BBD in zero gravity environments were also studied, and the results were compared with the system with BBD in ground gravity environments. There are optimum ranges of the diameter of the inner ball, tightness and gap for BBD, and the effects of these parameters on the damping performances of BBD in gravity and zero gravity environments are similar in evolving trends, and the values are without big differences in the optimum ranges. Thereby the parameter selection in BBD design in zero gravity environments is similar to that in gravity environments. However, the diameter of BBD should be a slightly larger than the size of the cavity when the structures with BBD work in zero gravity environments. The BBD is supposed to be picked tightly when the vibration frequency is high, and the BBD has better to be picked more tightly in zero gravity environments. These results can be used as a guide in the design of BBDs in zero gravity environments.