Where should the dampener be placed in a mass-spring-damper system?

[ranaiqtidar]

Hi everyone,
i have a confusion regarding Damping while drawing spring mass damper of my device. i have two masses attached thru spring. How i will decide the location of damper. damping can be put at different locations like two damping at both extreme ends or one in the middle of both masses or any combination. so my question is that how i will decide about the location of damping in my model. does the location of damping really influence the system response or it is independent of the damping location. But equation of motion of the system will surely be different for different damping locations.
i will be thankful if someone could help me out in this regards,

Rana

 

[Bolts]

Normally you would put the dampener in the middle of the spring if possible. The center of force for the spring should be the same for the dampener unless there is other mechanical guides in place that eliminate unwanted vibration modes.