Experimental investigation of a random repeated impact process

A simple random repeated impact process which has previously been investigated theoretically has now been investigated experimentally. The process, which consists of a ball bouncing on a randomly vibrating surface, is analogous to loss of contact situations which can occur in machinery and transportation systems where a hard rolling element separates from the rolling surface. Experimental data was acquired and processed by using a digital data acquisition system and associated software. The results were obtained in the form of histograms which could be directly compared with the predicted probability density functions. The agreement between the predicted behaviour and the measured results was excellent, and confirmed the dependence of the behaviour of the random process on the coefficient of restitution and the excitation level. Also, it was verified that the probability density function of table velocities at impact was distinct from the Gaussian density function of the excitation. Consequently the theoretical analysis previously developed has been validated with sufficient confidence to enable it to be applied to predictions of acoustic noise generated by the impact process.