Supporting results on the modeling of wave propagation and energy dissipation in joints

A method to characterize the energy dissipation in an overlapped bolted beam structure was derived in the first part of this paper(1). As a continuation of this work, a comparison of the results obtained by this methodology and the experiments used to corroborate them, will be here presented. The gain of the structure (ratio of the response over the forcing function) is numerically calculated, and then experimentally verified for a high frequency content (up to 25 kHz). A linear model for the bolted joint is first assumed, and the resonant frequencies for the first twenty flexural modes are investigated. The energy flow across the jointed section is then obtained by mathematical manipulation of the power flux of the propagating waves at the connection. Thereafter, an extended nonlinear model, accounting for the nonlinear behavior of the joint, is studied in order to increase the accuracy of the method al a higher frequency range. Similar analysis of the wave interaction at the joint is also performed.