About Dampers

In COSMOSMotion you can work with two types of dampers:

• Translational dampers represent forces acting between two parts over a distance and along a particular direction. You specify the location of the damper on two parts. COSMOSMotion calculates the damping forces based on the relative velocity between the locations on the two parts.
  
  For translational dampers, COSMOSMotion applies the action force to the first part you select, called the action body, and an equal and opposite reaction force along the line of sight of the second part you select, called the reaction body, based on the damping function.

• A torsional damper is a rotational damper applied between two components about a specific axis. COSMOSMotion calculates the spring moments based on the angular velocity between the two parts about the specified axis.
  
  For torsion dampers, COSMOSMotion applies an action moment about the specified axis to the first part you select, and an equal and opposite reaction moment to the second part you choose, based on the damping function.

Example.

The function expressions for the underlying action-reaction forces are:

Translational damper:

- c*vⁿ

Torsional damper:

- ct*omega_zⁿ

where:

• v - Current relative velocity between parts at the attachment points

• omega_z - Current angular velocity between the parts, about the user-defined axis

• c – Translational damping coefficient

• ct – Torsional damping coefficient

• n - Exponent. For example, if spring force = kx2, then n = 2 (valid options are -4,-3,-2,-1,1,2,3,4).