The torsional vibration of the propulsion shafting system equipped with viscous damper is investigated. The equivalent system is modeled by a two mass softening system with Duffing's oscillator and the vibratory motion is described by non-linear differential equations of second order. The damper casing is fixed at the front-end of crankshaft and the damper's inertia ring floats in viscous silicon fluid inside of the camper casing. The excitation frenquency is proportional to the rotational speed of engine. The steady state response of the equivalent system is analyzed by the computer and for this analyzing, the harmonic balance method is adopted as a non-linear vibration analysis technique. Frequency response curves are obtained for 1st order resonance only. Jump phenomena are explained. The discriminant for the solutions of the steady state response is derived. Both theoretical and measured results of the propulsion shafting system are compared with and evaluated. As a result of comparisions with both data, it was confirmed that Duffing's oscillator can be used in the modeling of the propulsion shafting system attached with viscous damper with non-linear stiffness.
