Project

Section 1: Background
Many sensitive instruments need to be protected from vibrations. Therefore, in this

project, the mechanical vibration of a windmill will be analyzed. By building mechanical and

mathematical models and computationally implement them, the natural frequency and mode

shape can be obtained. The windmill consists of four concentrated masses attached, in a

clamped-clamped boundary condition, to two flexible beams. Two flexible beams with masses

at their tips are clamped to the fourth mass but have the ability to rotate, simulating two blades

of a windmill. The entire structure is able to vibrate, while the blades can rotate and bend.

Section 3 and 2: Mechanical and Mathematical

Modelling
 The goal is to build mechanical and mathematical models and computationally implement
them to simulate the dynamic behavior of a rotating and vibrating structure.

Assumptions
Assumptions must be made in order to simplify the structure to the point at which a

mechanical model can be made. The entire system was simplified to a 2D structure, as all

movement is in the x-y plane and rotation is about the z axis. Due to the low range of

frequencies of the vibration of the structure (between 0 and 10 Hz), it is assumed that the change

in vertical length of the flexible beams which join the masses is negligible. The distributed

mass of the rotating flexible beams is considered negligible and the masses on their ends have

been considered as point loads for simplification.

Mechanical Model
The system has only 2 degrees of freedom, as all movement is in the x-y plane.
Mathematical Model
The reaction forces acting on each of the masses were calculated using ∑𝐹𝑦 = 0. The

dynamic reaction forces in the x direction are represented by linear spring forces, based on

Hooke’s Law, which can be used to model the horizontal movement of the masses due to

vibration.

The stiffness of each of the flexible beams between the masses can be found using the bending

beam theory. For beams which are fixed at both end, such as those in the system being analysed
in this report, the stiffness value is found as follows:

12EI
𝑘= where E is the modulus of elasticity, I is the area moment of inertia (𝑚4) and L is the
𝐿3

length of the beam (𝑚).

The area moment of inertia can also be calculated from given beam properties as follows:

bh3
𝐼 = 12 where b is the width of the beam and h is the height of the beam.

As there are two beams supporting each of the four platform masses, this k value needs to be

doubled. Therefore, the stiffness values are as follows:

For the two rotating flexible beams only one end is fixed so their values of k are calculated

differently.

The equations of motion can therefore be written as follows:

Section 4: Mass and Stiffness Matrices

The equations of motion calculated in the previous section can be combined in matrix form in

order to calculate the mass (M) and stiffness (K) matrices s. This matrix system is solved with

the initial conditions of 𝜃̇0 = 0 and (0) = 0 with the results as follows:
Section 5: Natural Frequency
The damping factors are functions of the natural frequency of the system and proportionality

factors 𝛼 and 𝛽. MATLAB can be used to calculate the natural frequency using the function [u,

lambda] = eig(-B,A) to calculate the values of lambda and subsequently using 𝜔 = √−𝜆. The

results are as follows:

Section 6: Mode Shape

The theoretical mode shape can be found from the modal matrix
Section 7: Reference
1. https://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/MtrxVibe/Anims/VibrationAnimations.html