Design and test of a friction damper to reduce engine vibrations on a space launcher

Space launchers are submitted to complex vibration environments and this can impact the payload it is carrying. Ensuring the protection of the payload therefore requires the addition of a secondary system. In this paper, a rapid design method for the dimensioning of a friction damper is developed, based on the equivalent energy dissipation with that of a viscous damper. A friction damper is designed and a prototype is built. The friction damper is first characterised alone and it is then mounted inside a scale model of a launcher last stage. The friction damper is adequately modelled by a spring in series with a friction element. The damper prototype proves to efficiently damp the rocket engine vibrations, and the design method used for dimensioning the friction damper gives a good approximation for the optimal sliding force of the damper.