Friction-induced reverse chatter in rigid-body mechanisms with impacts

The focus of this paper is on the possibility of formulating a consistent and unambiguous forward simulation model of planar rigid-body mechanical systems with isolated points of intermittent or sustained contact with rigid constraining surfaces in thepresence of dry friction. In particular, the analysis considers paradoxical ambiguities associated with the coexistence of sustained contact and one or several alternative forward trajectories that include phases of free-flight motion. Special attention is paid to the so-called Painlevé paradoxes where sustained contact is possible even if the contact-independent contribution to the normal acceleration would cause contact to cease. Here, through taking the infinite-stiffness limit of a compliant contact model, the ambiguity in the case of a condition of sustained stick is resolved in favour of sustained contact, whereas the ambiguity in the case of a condition of sustained slip is resolved by eliminating the possibility of reaching such a condition from an open set of initial conditions. A more significant challenge to the goal of an unambiguous forward simulation model is afforded by the discovery of open sets of initial conditions and parameter values associated with the possibility of a left accumulation point of impacts or reverse chatter—a transition to free flight through an infinite sequence of impacts with impact times accumulating from the right on a limit point and with impact velocities diverging exponentially away from the limit point, even where the contact-independent normal acceleration supports sustained contact. In this case, the infinite-stiffness limit of the compliant formulation establishes that, under a specific set of open conditions, the possibility of reverse chatter in the rigid-contact model is an irresolvable ambiguity in the forward dynamics based at the terminal point of a phase of sustained slip. Indeed, as the existence of a left accumulation point of impacts is associated with a one-parameter family of possible forward trajectories, the ambiguity is of infinite multiplicity. The conclusions of the theoretical analysis are illustrated and validated through numerical analysis of an example single-rigid-body mechanical model.