DAMPING PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS Revision C By Tom Irvine Email: tomirvine@aol.

com November 8, 2004 ________________________________________________________________________ The purpose of this tutorial is to give typical damping values for various materials and systems. The data in Tables 1 and 2 is taken from Reference 1. Table 1. Static Properties of Materials under Standard Conditions (approx. 20 C). Elastic Shear Density Modulus Modulus Poissons Material 3 2 2 Ratio (kg/m ) (N/m ) (N/m ) Aluminum Lead Iron Steel Gold Copper Magnesium Brass Nickel Silver Bismuth Zinc Tin 2700 11,300 72 (10 ) 17 (10 )
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

27 (10 ) 6 (10 ) 77 (10 ) 77 (10 ) 28 (10 ) 46 (10 ) 17 (10 ) 36 (10 ) 77 (10 ) 29 (10 ) 1.3 (10 ) 5 (10 ) 1.6 (10 )
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9

0.34 0.43 0.30 0.31 0.423 0.35 0.29 0.33 0.30 0.37 0.38 0.33 0.39

7800 200 (10 ) 7800 210 (10 ) 19,300 80 (10 )

8900 125 (10 ) 1740 8500 43 (10 ) 95 (10 )

8900 205 (10 ) 10,500 9800 80 (10 ) 3.3 (10 )

9

7130 13.1(10 ) 7280 4.4 (10 )

9

Table 2. Dynamic Properties of Materials under Standard Conditions (approx. 20 C) Propagation Propagation Material Velocity of Velocity of Longitudinal Loss Longitudinal Torsional Factor Wave in a Rod Wave (meters/sec) (meters/sec) Aluminum 5200 3100 0.3 to 10 10 5
Lead (pure) Lead (including antimony) Iron Steel Gold Copper (polycrystalline) Copper (single crystal) Magnesium Brass Nickel Silver Bismuth Zinc Tin Notes: 1250 730

Flexural Loss Factor

10 4 2 10 2

( ) 5 to 30 (10 2 )
1 to 4 10 3

) )

5050 5100 2000 3700

3100 3100 1200 2300

( ) 1 to 4 (10 4 ) 0.2 to 3 (10 4 ) 3 (10 4 ) 2 (10 3 ) 2 to 7 (10 4 )

0.2 to 1 10 3

2 to 6 10 4

2 103

( )

5000 3200 4800 2700 580 1350 780

3100 2100 2900 1600 360 850 470

10 4 < 10 3 < 10 3

4 10 4

) 8 (10 4 ) 3 (10 4 ) 20 (10 4 )

< 3 10 3

1. Some loss factors are unavailable. 2. The relationship between the loss factor and the viscous damping ratio is: = 2 .

The data in Table 3 is taken from Reference 2. Table 3. Representative Damping Ratios System Metals (in elastic range) Continuous Metal Structures Metal Structure with Joints Aluminum / Steel Transmission Lines Small Diameter Piping Systems Large Diameter Piping Systems Auto Shock Absorbers Rubber Large Buildings during Earthquakes Prestressed Concrete Structures Reinforced Concrete Structures Viscous Damping Ratio <0.01 0.02 to 0.04 0.03 to 0.07
0.0004

0.01 to 0.02 0.02 to 0.03

0.30 0.05

0.01 to 0.05 0.02 to 0.05 0.04 to 0.07

The data in Tables 4 through 6 is taken from Reference 3. Table 4. Material Damping Ratios (Bare Structure) System Reinforced Concrete Small Stress Intensity (uncracked) 0.007 to 0.010 Medium Stress Intensity (fully cracked) 0.010 to 0.040 High Stress Intensity (fully cracked but no yielding of reinforcement) Prestressed Concrete (uncracked) Partially Prestressed Concrete (slightly cracked) Composite Steel
C.1

Viscous Damping Ratio

0.005 to 0.008 0.04 to 0.07 0.008 to 0.012 0.002 to 0.003 0.001 to 0.002

Table 5. Footbridge Damping Construction Type Reinforced Concrete Prestressed Concrete Composite Steel
1.1

Viscous Damping Ratio Min. Mean Max. 0.008 0.005 0.003 0.002 0.013 0.010 0.006 0.004 0.020 0.017 -

Table 6. Building Damping Construction Type Tall Buildings ( h > ~100 m) Reinforced concrete Steel Buildings ( h ~ 50 m) Reinforced concrete Steel
3.1

Viscous Damping Ratio Min. Mean Max.

0.010 0.007

0.015 0.010

0.020 0.013

0.020 0.015

0.025 0.020

0.030 0.025

The data in Table 7 is taken from Reference 1. Table 7. Mechanical Properties of Building Materials under Standards Conditions Elastic Modulus (dyne/cm2) 28e+10 7.7e+10 12e+10 21e+10 Oak Fiber Mats Fir Felt Gypsum Board Glass Pressed-wood Panels Plaster Cork Light Concrete Plexiglas Porous, Concrete Sand, dry Dense Concrete Plywood Brick 0.7 1.0 0.08 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.2 2.5 0.6 0.7 1.7 0.12 0.25 1.3 1.15 0.6 1.5 2.3 0.6 1.9 2.2 2-10e+10 1.4-3e+10 1-5e+10 0.03e+10 7e+10 60e+10 4.6e+10 4.4e+10 0.025e+10 3.8e+10 5.6e+10 2e+10 0.03e+10 26e+10 5.4e+10 2.5-3e+10 Longitudinal Wavespeed (cm/sec) 3.7e+05 1.9e+05 2.4e+05 3.2e+05 1.5-3.5e+05 2.5e+05 2.4e+05 4.9e+05 2.7e+05 1.6e+05 0.43e+05 1.7e+05 2.2e+05 1.7e+05 0.1-0.17e+05 3.4e+05 3e+05 2.5-3e+05

Material Asbestos Concrete Asphalt

Density (g/cm3) 2.0 1.8 - 2.3

Loss Factor

0.7-2e-02 0.38 0.21 0.055 1e-02 0.1 8e-03 6e-02 6e-03 0.6-2e-03 1 - 3e-02 2 - 5e-02 0.13 - 0.17 1.5e-02 2 - 4e-02 1e-02 0.06-0.12 4 - 8e-03 1.3e-02 1 2e-02

The damping values in the tables should be used with caution. There are many types of damping, such as viscous, hysteresis, acoustic coupling, air pumping at joints, energy radiation to the soil, etc. Also, boundaries and bearings contribute damping. Furthermore, structures have many modes. Each mode may have a unique damping value.

References
1.

L. Cremer and M. Heckl, Structure-Borne Sound, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988. V. Adams and A. Askenazi, Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis, OnWord Press, Santa Fe, N.M., 1999. H. Bachmann, et al., Vibration Problems in Structures, Birkhauser Verlag, Berlin, 1995.

2.

3.