THE INFLUENCE OF IMPACT MODELLING ASSUMPTIONS ON THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF FLEXIBLE ROCKING OSCILLATORS Huanian Zhu 1 , Manolis Chatzis 2 , and Sinan Acikgoz 2 1 Phd Candidate, Department of Engineering Science, The University of Oxford Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ e-mail: huanian.zhu@eng.ox.ac.uk 2 Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Science, The University of Oxford Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PJ e-mail: {manolis.chatzis, sinan.acikgoz}@eng.ox.ac.uk Keywords: rocking, lateral flexibility, impact, analytical model. Abstract. For rigid rocking models, energy dissipation relies solely on impact. Consequently, the position of the impulse acting on the rocking body determines the magnitude of energy loss and strongly influences the subsequent dynamic response. This paper evaluates the correspond- ing influence of the location of the vertical impulse on the dynamic behaviour of flexible rocking oscillators. The dynamic behaviour of a rocking flexible oscillator is explored in this study with an impact model that parametrically considers the position of impulse. The influence of the po- sition of impulse on the expected energy loss during impact, and on the overturning stability of the flexible rocking oscillator are then examined. It is shown that the energy loss at impact re- duces and the potential for overturning instability increases, for impulses located at increasing distances from the future rocking corner. 1618 COMPDYN 2021 8 th ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering M. Papadrakakis, M. Fragiadakis (eds.) Streamed from Athens, Greece, 28 - 30 June 2021 Available online at www.eccomasproceedia.org Eccomas Proceedia COMPDYN (2021) 1618-1625 ISSN:2623-3347 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Eccomas Proceedia. Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of COMPDYN 2021. doi:10.7712/120121.8586.18880