Chains of Viscoelastic Spheres

TL;DR

This paper investigates how to optimize mass distribution in chains of viscoelastic spheres to maximize energy transfer, revealing significant differences from chains with constant restitution coefficients, especially in small systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to select masses in viscoelastic sphere chains for optimal energy transfer, highlighting qualitative differences from constant restitution models.

Findings

Viscoelastic properties significantly affect energy transfer.

Differences are notable even in small systems.

Optimal mass distribution depends on viscoelastic behavior.

Abstract

Given a chain of viscoelastic spheres with fixed masses of the first and last particles. We raise the question: How to chose the masses of the other particles of the chain to assure maximal energy transfer? The results are compared with a chain of particles for which a constant coefficient of restitution is assumed. Our simple example shows that the assumption of viscoelastic particle properties has not only important consequences for very large systems (see [1]) but leads also to qualitative changes in small systems as compared with particles interacting via a constant restitution coefficient.