EXPERIMENT 5

FORCED VIBRATIONS OF CANTILEVER BEAM

(CONTINUOUS SYSTEM)

5.1 Objective of the Experiment
The aim of the experiment is to analyze the forced vibrations of the continuous cantilever beam, the
phenomena of resonances, the phase of the vibration signal and to obtain the fundamental natural
frequency and damping ratio of the system, and compare the results with theoretically calculated values.
The basic aim of these experiments is to provide a feel of actual experiments
along with learning of basic components while performing the virtual experiments.
5.2 Basic Definitions
Forced vibration: When a dynamic system is subjected to a steady-state harmonic excitation, it is forced
to vibrate at the same frequency as that of the excitation. The harmonic excitation can be given in many
ways like with constant frequency and variable frequency or a swept-sine frequency, in which the
frequency changes from the initial to final values of frequencies with a given time-rate (i.e., ramp).
If the frequency of excitation coincides with one of the natural frequencies of the system, a condition of
resonance is encountered and dangerously large oscillations may result, which results in failure of major
structures, i.e., bridges, buildings, or airplane wings etc. Hence, the natural frequency of the system is the
frequency at which the resonance occurs. At the point of resonance the displacement of the system is a
maximum.
Thus calculation of natural frequencies is of major importance in the study of vibrations. Because of
friction & other resistances vibrating systems are subjected to damping to some degree due to dissipation
of energy. Damping has very little effect on natural frequency of the system, and hence the calculations
for natural frequencies are generally made on the basis of no damping. Damping is of great importance in
limiting the amplitude of oscillation at resonance.
The relative displacement configuration of the vibrating system for a particular natural frequency is
known as the eigen function in the continuous system. For every natural frequency there would be a
corresponding eigen function. The mode shape corresponding to lowest natural frequency (i.e. the
fundamental natural frequency) is called as the fundamental (or the first) mode. The displacements at
some points may be zero. These points are known as nodes. Generally for higher modes the number of
nodes increases. The mode shape changes for different boundary conditions of the beam.
5.3 Mathematical analysis


Fixed support
Free end
Beam

Figure 5.1 (a) A cantilever beam

Exiciter
L1

Figure 5.1 (b) The beam under forced vibrations

Fig 5.1(a) is showing a cantilever beam which is fixed at one end and other end is fixed, having
rectangular cross-section.
Fig 5.1(b) is showing the cantilever beam which is subjected to forced vibration. An exciter is
used to give excitation to the system. The exciter is capable to generate different type of forcing
signal e.g. sine, swept sine, rectangular, triangular etc.
Continuous Beam Model: In actual case, the beam is a continuous system, i.e. the mass along
with the stiffness is distributed throughout the beam. The equation of motion in this case will be
(Meirovitch, 1967)

2 2 2
1 2 2 2
( , ) ( , )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
y x t y x t
EI x m x f t x L
x x t
o
c c c
= +
`
c c c
)
(5.1)

where, E is the modulus of rigidity of beam material, I is the moment of inertia of the beam cross-section,
y(x, t) is displacement in y direction at distance x from fixed end, m is the mass per unit length,
( ) m A x = , is the material density, A(x) is the area of cross-section of the beam, ( ) f t is the forced
applied to the system at x = L
1
.
Free Vibration Solution: We have following boundary conditions for a cantilever beam (Fig. 5.1)

at ( )
( )
0, 0, 0
dY x
x Y x
dx
= = = (5.3)
and
at
2 3
2 3
( ) ( )
, 0, 0
d Y x d Y x
x l
dx dx
= = = (5.4)

For a uniform beam under free vibration from equation (5.1), we get


4
4
4
( )
( ) 0
d Y x
Y x
dx
| = (5.5)
with
2
4
m
EI
e
| =

A closed form of the circular natural frequency
nf
e , from above equation of motion for first mode can
be written as (Meirovitch, 1967)
2
4
1.875
nf
EI
AL
e

= rad/sec (5.6)
Second natural frequency
2
2 4
4.694
nf
EI
AL
e

=
Third natural frequency
2
3 4
7.855
nf
EI
AL
e

=

For different boundary conditions these expressions would be different. The natural frequency is related
with the circular natural frequency as

2
nf
nf
f
e
t
= Hz (5.7)

where I the moment of inertia of the beam cross-section and for a circular cross-section it is given as
4
64
I d
t
= (5.8)

where, d is the diameter of cross section, and for a rectangular cross section)


3
12
bd
I =

(5.9)

where b and d are the breadth and width of the beam cross-section as shown in the figure.

b
d

Fig 5.3 The first three undamped natural frequencies and mode shape of cantilever beam.









5.4 Experimental setup

Data acquisition
system
Accelerometer
Cantilever beam
Fixed end
Free end
Exciter
Controller

Figure 5.4 An experimental setup for the forced vibration of a cantilever beam
The experimental setup consists of a cantilever beam (Picture), an exciter (Picture),
controller/amplifier(Picture), two transducers (e.g., accelerometer (Picture)and laser vibrometer), a data-
acquisition system (Picture)and a computer with signal display and processing software The schematic of
the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 5.4. Different types of beam materials and its properties are listed
in Table 5.1. Different combinations of beam geometries for each of the beam material are summarized in
Table 5.1

Accelerometer is a sensing element (transducer) to measure the vibration response (i.e., acceleration,
velocity and displacement). Data acquisition system takes vibration signal from the accelerometer and
encodes it in digital form. Computer acts as a data storage and analysis system, it takes encoded data from
data acquisition system and after processing (e.g., FFT, etc.) it display on the computer screen by using
analysis software.

When we perform the experiment, the exciter keep the excitation force in such a way that the
displacement increases almost linearly Fig. 5.10(b) . Because of this reason we get continuously
increasing displacement-frequency graph Fig. 5.11(a) but the force- frequency graph Fig. 5.10(a)
decreases up to the resonance than it increases. The controller of the exciter minimizes the force
amplitude so that at resonance large oscillations does not take place.


Table 5.1 Material properties of various beams
Material Density (kg/m
3
) Youngs modulus (N/m
2
)
Steel 7850 2.110
11
Copper 8933 1.210
11
Aluminum 2700 0.6910
11


Table 5.2 Different geometries of the beam
Length, L, (m) Breadth, b, (m) Depth, h, (m)
0.45 m 0.02 m 0.003 m
0.65 m 0.04 m 0.003 m












5.5 Photos of experimental setup







Figure 5.5 Experimental setup of a cantilever beam for forced vibration.

Figure 5.5 shows an experimental setup of the cantilever beam. It includes a beam specimen of a
particular geometry with a fixed end and at the free end an accelerometer is mounted to measure the
vibration response. The fixed end of beam is gripped with the help of clamp. For getting precise vibration
response of the cantilever beam, it is very important to ensure that clamp is tightened properly, otherwise
it may not give fixed end conditions and relative sliding may take place.


Fig 5.6 Exciter
Exciter is used to give desired excitation to the beam. The power is given to the exciter by
controller which is connected with a computer to select the excitation parameter. The different
type of excitation can be genrated by exciter e.g. sine, swept sine , rectengular, tringilar etc.
In case of forced vibration we use swept sine force signal, in which user have to select the initial
and final frequency and the sweep rate.






Figure 5.7 A close view of the fixed end of the cantilever beam




Figure 5.8 A close view of an accelerometer mounted on the beam at the free end

An accelerometer (Fig. 5.8) is a time-dependent (dynamic) vibration measuring device. It is a contacting
type transducer. It is a transducer, which converts the acceleration of vibration into equivalent voltage
signal, and sends it to the data acquisition system (Fig. 5.9).













Figure 5.9 Data acquisition system
Data acquisition system receives voltage signal from the accelerometer and calibrate the data into
equivalent accelerometer scale through its sensitivity (give value with units?) and send it to computer
where by using a software these data can be analyzed as time history (displacement-time) and frequency
domain (i.e., using FFT).

Figure 5.10 time-force and time-response graph
(a) Excitation force against Time
(b) Response against Time
When the voltage signal from the accelerometer is sent to the data-acquisition system , it calibrate it into
mechanical vibration data and send it to computer where by using the vibration measurement software, it
can be plotted as shown in above Figure and can be used for further analysis.





6.6 Experimental procedure
1. Choose a beam of a particular material (steel or aluminum), dimensions (L, w, d) and transducer
(e.g., accelerometer or laser vibrometer).
2. Clamp one end of the beam as the cantilever beam support (see Fig. ?).
3. Place an accelerometer (with magnetic base) at the free end of the cantilever beam, to measure
the forced vibration response (acceleration).
4. Place the exciter stinger on the beam slightly offset from the middle of the beam (Fig.?). Ensure
the connection of the exciter with the controller and the level of input power.
5. Connect another accelerometer at the exciter to measure the forced vibration response
(acceleration) away from exciter (Picture/Fig. ?) location.
6. Make a proper connection of accelerometer with data acquisition system and with computer to
capture the vibration data.
7. During setting of the swept-sine parameter make sure that in the vibration measurement software
the time duration should be greater than the total time of excitation .
8. Make the settings to generate swept-sine signal from exciter.
9. Start the experiment by giving force signal to the exciter and allow the beam to forced vibrate.
10. Record all the data obtained from the chosen transducer in the form of variation of the vibration
response with time.
11. Repeat the experiments for five to ten times to check the repeatability of the experimentation (i.e.,
vibration data).
12. Repeat the whole experiment for different material, dimensions, and measuring devices.
13. Record the whole set of data in a data base for further processing and analysis.



5.7 Experimental Identification of Resonance Conditions
It is relatively easy to obtain the resonance condition by observing the behavior of the system at
varying frequency (e.g., swept-sine). During the experiment the frequency of excitation force is
swept between a chosen range of frequency with a fixed time-rate. The frequency range is
selected in such a way so that the natural frequency of system lies in within the frequency range
and the swept rate is selected by several trials of experiments (i.e., increment of 2 Hz to 3 Hz per
sec). As we know that in case of forced vibration the system vibrates with the same frequency as
that of exciter. At the point of resonance we get sudden increase in the response, the frequency of
excitation corresponding to the resonance is the natural frequency of the system. but in our case it
is linear because of property of exciter to generate force signal in such a manner to get linearly
increasing displacement.

(a)

(b)

(c)
Fig. 5.11 (a) Displacement against frequency
(b) magnification factor against frequency ratio.
(c) change phase value between 0 and 180 degree at resonance
At the resonance the phase difference between the force and response changes by 180 degree,
which also implies the indication of resonance and corresponding frequency is the natural frequency of
the system.

5.8 Calculation of Damping Ratio
The damping ratio can be calculated with the help of phase difference between the force and the response
at any excitation frequency especially which is close to the natural frequency of the system (Fig. 5.11(c)).
The damping ratio can be calculated as follows. We have

2
2
tan
1
,=

=
=

(5.10)

where,

is phase difference between the force and the response, and
nf
e
=
e
=
The above equation can be rewritten as
2
(1 )
tan
2
=
,
=

=
(5.11)
Damping ratio can be calculated from above formula directly once we know the natural frequency, and
phase difference at a particular excitation frequency.

Example 5.2:- From fig 5.11(b) and also from fig 5.11(c) the natural frequency is 13.2 Hz, let e =8
Hz and at that point phase difference between force and response is 10 degree.

The frequency ratio is
8
0.615
13
= = =

Hence, the damping ratio is
2
(1 0.615 )
tan10 0.0890
2 0.615
,

= =

5.9 Virtual experimentation
Virtual experimentation provides the interface which provides facility to perform experiments virtually. It
provides different options for material selection, instruments, and specimen dimensions. After making
desired selection and running the program it gives the result from a storage database for a particular
configuration selected by the user. Fig. 5.7 shows an overall flowchart for a virtual laboratory in which
several experiments remote users can perform through the internet with the help of already stored
measured data.

Figure 5.8 Overview of measurement based virtual experiments


5.10 Discussions
Good agreement of the theoretically calculated natural frequency with the experimental one is found. The
correction for the mass of the sensor will improve the correlation better. The present theoretical
calculation is based on the cantilever beam end conditions (i.e., one end is fixed end), in actual practice it
may not be always the case because of flexibility in support that may affect the natural frequency. By
considering all the precaution and by using the procedure step by step with proper coordination with the
subsystem , measuring instruments , data acquisition system and vibration measuring software, the result
can be improved. User is suggested to use sensors and other measuring instruments with high sensitivity
and minimize the noise in measuring data, it minimize the error and improve the result. User is also
suggested to repeat the experiment with patience.

5.11 Precautions during Experimentations and Analyses

1. Fixed end condition of the cantilever beam could be ensured by properly gripping one end of the
beam.
2. Care should be taken that the cables of accelerometer should not affect the beam motion.
3. The mass of the accelerometer should be small as compared to beam mass.
4. The power of excitation should be proper, too less power may cause of insufficient vibration and
too high power may cause of damage of the system.
5. Select the sweep rate which should not either very less or very high. Usually sweep rate 2 or 3
Hz/sec is suggested.
6. Placement of sensors and exciter stinger, should not be at node.

5.12 Questions
1. What is the difference between the free and forced vibrations?

2. In a damped vibratory system, what will be the phase difference between the input force and
the output displacement when the excitation frequency is exactly same as the natural
frequency of the system?

3. What will be the phase difference between the input force and the output displacement when
the excitation frequency is less than the natural frequency of the system, and when its is
greater than the natural frequency of the system?

4. How would you determine the natural frequency of a vibratory system in case of forced
vibrations.

5. Give some examples based on the daily-life observations where the harmonic force
generates?

6. Give some practical examples where we can observe resonance.

7. How many distinct resonance conditions can exist for an N degree of freedom system?


5.13 References
1. Meirovitch, L., 1967, Analytical methods in vibration, Ccollier-MacMillan Ltd., London.
2. Thomson, W.T., 2007, Theory of vibration with application, Kindersley Publishing, Inc., London.
3. Rao, J. S, and Gupta, K., Introductory Course on Theory and Practice of Mechanical Vibrations,
New Age International, New Delhi.