On the limits of quasi-static analysis for a simple Coulomb frictional oscillator in response to harmonic loads

Due to the nonlinearity of the Coulomb friction law, even the simplest models of interfaces in contact show a very rich dynamic solution. It is often desirable, especially if the frequency of loading is only a fraction of the first natural frequency of the system, to replace a full dynamic analysis with a quasi-static one, which obviously is much simpler to obtain. In this work, we study a simple Coulomb frictional oscillator with harmonic tangential load, but with constant normal load. It is found that the quasi-static solution (which has only 2 stops) captures approximately the displacement peak as long as the forcing frequency is low enough for the dynamic solution to have 2 or, even better, more than 2 stops. Instead, the velocity peak is not correctly estimated, since the velocity becomes highly irregular due to the stick–slip stops, whose number increases without limit for zero frequency. In this sense, the classical quasi-static solution, obtaining by cancelling inertia terms in the equilibrium equations, does not coincide with the limit of the full dynamic solution at low frequencies. The difference is not eliminated by adding a small amount of viscous damping, as only with critical damping, the dynamic solution is very close to the quasi-static one. Additional discrepancies arise above a limit frequency whose value depends on the ratio of the tangential load to the limit one for sliding, and correspond to when the dynamic solution turns from 2 to 0 stop per cycle.