Technical Reference

Created by John Alexiou Page 1 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM

Efficiency of ideal dampers and
comparison with data from real damper
testing.
Introduction
A cable is allowed to vibrate with a fixed support point (node) on one end and
a wave generator on the other end. At a distance L from the node point an
ideal damper is placed consisting of a dashpot attached to the ground. Initially
it is assumed that the damping coefficient is constant, and the damper exhibits
strictly linear characteristics. The vibration amplitudes observed are C0 for the
maximum amplitude away form the damper, C1 for the minimum amplitude
away from the damper and C2 for the amplitude of the wave between the node
and the damper. See figure below for the general arrangement.

Figure 1. Vibration of a cable near a node point with an Ideal damper attached at a
distance L from the node point.
The vibration wave between the damper and the node point is characterized by
a standing wave that consists of a left-bound wave with amplitude C2/2 and a
right-bound wave with amplitude of C2/2. Combined they give zero amplitude
at the node point, and C2 amplitude at the anti-node.
The vibration wave away from the damper is characterized by two traveling
waves that have amplitudes A=(C0+C1)/2 and B=-(C0-C1)/2 corresponding to
the left-bound wave and the right-bound wave respectively. The efficiency of
any damper is defined by the amount of right-bound reflected wave as a
proportion to the left-bound incident wave. Thus, the efficiency is defined as
the inverse standing wave ratio (ISWR)

0
1
C
C
B A
B A
=

+
= (1)
Technical Reference
Created by John Alexiou Page 2 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM
Analytical solution for ideal damper
The overall wave had two domains. The wave y
1
(x,t) represents the waveform
away from the damper, and y
2
(x,t) the waveform between the damper and the
support point. The distance between the support and the damper is L, the
tension of the cable is T, the unit weight of the cable is w and the damping
coefficient of the dashpot is d. If the cable is forced on a frequency f=c/ and
c is the wave speed, and the wavelength, then its wave equation is described
by
0
) , ( ) , (
2
2
2
2
=

t
t x y
g
w
x
t x y
T (2)
with the solution of

w
Tg
c = (3)
for the wave functions
) 2 sin( ) 2 sin( 2 ) , (
1
c
x
f t f C t x y = (4)
and
) 2 sin( ) 2 sin( ) , (
2 B A
t
c
x
f B t
c
x
f A t x y +
(

+ + +
(

= (5)
The constants A, B,
A
,

are to be determined by the boundary conditions and

f, c represent the frequency and wave speed of the vibration.
In order for the waves to match properly the following boundary conditions
apply:
[ ] 0 ) , (
0 1
=
= x
t x y (6)
[ ] 0 ) , ( ) , (
1 2
=
=L x
t x y t x y (7)

L x
d
F t x y
x
t x y
x
T

=
|
.
|

\
|

) , ( ) , (
2 2
(8)
where F
d
is the force applied by the damper onto the cable. For an ideal
damper this force is

L x
d
t x y
t
d F
=
(

= ) , (
1
(9)
Further simplification can be made with the following substitutions

B y A y
B x A x
B B A A
B B A A


sin sin
cos cos
= =
= =
(10)
Technical Reference
Created by John Alexiou Page 3 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM
Analytical Solution of the Wave Forms
The solution of the boundary conditions is simplified further with the
introduction of the impedance match ratio =d/Z, and damper location ratio
=L/(/2). These are expressed in terms of the vibration properties as

g Tw
d
/
= and

L 2
= (11)
with =c/f calculated from equation (3).
The wave components are then solved as
( ) ( ) cos sin
2
2 C
A
x
= (12)
( )
2
2
sin
2
2
2
C C
A
y
+ = (13)
( ) ( ) cos sin
2
2 C
B
x
= (14)
( )
2
2
sin
2
2
2
C C
B
y
= (15)
The efficiency of the damper is calculated from the inverse standing wave ratio
(1) as

2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2
y x y x
y x y x
B B A A
B B A A
+ + +
+ +
= (16)
The efficiency can be plotted as a family of curves with the impedance match
ratio in the x-axis and the efficiency on the y-axis for many different damper
location parameters .
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
0
.
0
0
0
.
2
0
0
.
4
0
0
.
6
0
0
.
8
0
1
.
0
0
1
.
2
0
1
.
4
0
1
.
6
0
1
.
8
0
2
.
0
0
Impedance Ratio
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
=0.5
=0.56
=0.62
=0.68
=0.74
=0.8
=0.86

Figure 2. Damper Efficiency vs. Impedance Match for various damper locations. denotes
the damper placement ratio. A value of =0.7 denotes the damper placed at 70% of the
free loop length.
Technical Reference
Created by John Alexiou Page 4 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM
Ideal Damper Efficiency Test
If we want to produce a plot of damper efficiency as a function of vibration
frequency and place the damper according to the smallest wavelength
(maximum frequency) that the damper is going to encounter in the field then
the position ratio of the damper is going to change with frequency as defined
below

max
f
f
spacing
= (17)
The parameter
spacing
represents the spacing of the damper, which typically is
located at 70% of the free loop length (FLL=/2). Given then
spacing
= 0.7 the
efficiency of the damper can be plotted with the frequency in the x-axis
ranging from zero to f
max
.
Damper Placed at 70% of FLL
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Frequency
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y
=0.087
=0.260
=0.434
=0.607
=0.781
=0.954
0 f max

Figure 3. Ideal Damper Efficiency Curve vs. Frequency for various damper designs
(different impedance matches, ). The placement of the damper is set such that at the
maximum frequency (minimum wavelength) it is spaced at 70% of the free loop length.
The same chart can be used with wind speeds instead of frequencies with the
conversion equation
D V f / 26 . 3 = (18)
where V is the wind speed and D the outside diameter of the cable. The x-axis
of Figure 3 is replaced by wind speeds ranging from zero to V
max
. If V
max
has the
typical value of 15mph then the peak efficiency occurs at 10.7 mph
corresponding to the frequency that places the damper exactly on the anti-
node of vibration.

Technical Reference
Created by John Alexiou Page 5 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM
Real Damper Efficiency Test
When test data from real dampers is plotted against wind speed (see below) an
ideal efficiency curve can be picked such that all real curves are above it.
Thus, defining a minimum efficiency curve based on an ideal model. In
addition, the industry standard BPA curve is plotted for comparison.
Damper Efficiency Testing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0
Wind Speed (mph)
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

(
%
)
26% MIN. EFFICIENCY
1705-7 : ACSR LARK
1706-10 : ACSR DRAKE
1706-10 : ACSR RAIL
1707-11 : ACSR BUNTING
1708-14 : ACSR CHUCKAR
BPA Curve

Figure 4. Actual damper efficiencies based on tests done in-house for ACA as well as the
26% curve chosen from Figure 3 representing the minimum accepted efficiency values. The
standard 26% BPA curve is shown as a dashed line.

Technical Reference
Created by John Alexiou Page 6 of 6 8/23/2005 2:59 PM
Appendix
Ideal 26% Efficiency Curve
The minimum efficiency as calculated by equation (16) with a 70% damper
location ratio, a 26% impedance match ratio and a maximum wind speed of
15mph is shown on the table and chart below. In addition, the industry
standard BPA acceptance curve is shown with also 26% impedance match ratio.
Wind (mph) BPA Curve Ideal Curve
2.00 4% 2.2%
2.50 6% 3.3%
3.00 8% 4.7%
3.50 10% 6.2%
4.00 12% 7.8%
4.50 13% 9.6%
5.00 15% 11.4%
5.50 16% 13.3%
6.00 18% 15.2%
6.50 19% 17.0%
7.00 20% 18.8%
7.50 21% 20.4%
8.00 22% 21.9%
8.50 23% 23.2%
9.00 23% 24.3%
9.50 24% 25.1%
10.00 25% 25.7%
10.50 25% 26.0%
11.00 25% 26.0%
11.50 26% 25.6%
12.00 26% 25.0%
12.50 26% 24.1%
13.00 26% 23.0%
13.50 26% 21.7%
14.00 26% 20.2%
14.50 26% 18.5%
15.00 26% 16.8%

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00
BPA Curve
Ideal Curve