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ABSTRACT
A mechanical system is said to be vibrating when its component part are undergoing periodic
oscillations about a central statical equilibrium position. Any system can be caused to vibrate by
externally applying forces due to its inherent mass and elasticity.
OBJECTIVES
To investigate the response and behaviour of a pendulum system undergoing free vibrations
with and without viscous damping.
To dete i e alues of da pi g oeffi ie t C and damping ratio for a set of damper
setting.
To verify the suitability of the mathematical method used in determining the damping
values.
DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENTS
Fig 1: An Oscilloscope.
2. Potentiometer: is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding contact that forms an
adjustable voltage divider. It is a simple electro-mechanical transducer. It converts rotary or
linear motion from the operator into a change of resistance. It has terminals which can be
connected to a signal amplifying or display unit as the case may be (sound.westhost.com).
3. Variable damping unit: this is used to set varying damping values been used for the experiment.
4. Digital weighing scale: a measurement device used to measure the weight or mass of an object
or substances. Most digital scales make their measurements based on an internal strain gauge, a
thin foil piece that conducts electricity and is sensitive to deformation is attached with some
adhesive to a flexible surface. When weight is applied to the digital scale, various mechanisms
within the digital scale ensure the weight is evenly distributed on the strain gauge. The weight
bends the flexible surface, deforming the foil piece, which alters the flow of electrical current
(www.wisegeek.com).
5. Helical Spring: an elastic body, whose function is to distort when loaded and to recover
its original shape when the load is removed. It is made up of a wire coiled in the form of a
helix and are primarily intended for compressive or tensile loads (engg-learning.blogspot.com).
6. Signal Amplifier: is an electronic device that increases the power of a signal. It does this by taking
energy from a power supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape but with
a larger amplitude. In this sense, an amplifier modulates the output of the power supply
(en.wikipedia.org).
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
If a mechanical system is displaced from its equilibrium position and then released, the restoring
fo e ill i g a out etu to a ds the e uili iu positio . This is efe ed to as F ee Vi atio .
This type of vibration arises from an initial impact energy that is continually changing from potential
to kinetic form. In a free vibration, the system is said to vibrate at its natural frequency. However,
due to various causes there will be some dissipation of mechanical energy during each cycle of
i atio a d this effe t is alled Da pi g. ‘yde a d Be ett, 99 .
Theoretically, an un-damped free vibration system continues vibrating once it is started. This
experiment examines the effect of damping and the level of damping on the behaviour of a
pendulum.
Free and Forced Vibration: in this type of vibration, no external force acts on the system as
the system is left to vibrate on its own after an initial disturbance. E.g.: the oscillation of a
simple pendulum. Similarly, when the system is subjected to an external force (often, a
repeating type of force. E.g.: the oscillation of machines like diesel engines.
Other ways of classifying vibration are; linear and non-linear vibration, deterministic and random
vibration.
The simplest possible vibratory system consist of a mass attached by means of a spring to an
immovable support as shown below. The mass is constrained to translational motion in the direction
of the axis so that its change of position from an initial reference is described fully by the value of
a single quantity . This is alled a single degree of freedom ‘.E Blake, 2002).
The differential equation of motion of mass, m for the undamped system is:
In order to simplify the mathematics involved, the damping is modelled as a viscous damping
depending on the magnitude of damping. A damped system can be under-damped, critically damped
or over-damped.
Fig 9: Damped system model.
For a damped system, the corresponding equation of motion of mass is given by:
Under-damped System: this occurs when the damping of the system is less than critical, ζ<1; a
simple analogy is the underdamped door closer would close quickly, but would hit the door frame
with significant velocity, or would oscillate in the case of a swinging door. The solution of equation
above is:
Overdamped System: This occurs when ζ > 1. The result is an exponential decay with no oscillations
but it will take longer to reach the rest position than with critical damping. An over-damped door-
closer will take longer to close than a critically damped door would.
Mathematical model
To determine the values of spring stiffness, K and pendulum arm mass, Ma using the following
equations:
√ √
Where:
Large Mass, ML Small Mass, MS
FL – Natural frequency with ML attached to arm
FS – Natural frequency with MS attached to arm
K – Spring stiffness Ma – Pendulum arm mass.
(√ ) --------------- (1)
(√ ) --------------- (2)
( )
( )
( )
( )
Therefore;
( )
√
But
√
√
Part B
i. With initial apparatus set up in part A previously, the large mass was attached and also the
damper unit to pendulum arm.
ii. The damper unit was set to 1 on the damper scale and the scope was adjusted to read zero
voltage by moving the vertical cursor and aligning the horizontal cursor on the input signal
trace.
iii. The pendulum was made to swing freely against the spring with the resulting trace on the
scope fixed using the store facility.
iv. The voltage reading which represented the peak value of the waveforms were noted. This
step is repeated for damper scale setting of 3 and 5.
v. The damper was set to a higher scale and the corresponding system response was observed.
Calculations
K = 110.45 Kg/m2
F0 – natural frequency without mass = 5.68Hz
√ √
F0 = 0.159 × 36.59
F0 = 5.82Hz
To determine the values of the damping ratio, ε for each damper setting.
Damping setting = 1.
√ √
Damper setting = 3.
√ √
Damper setting = 5.
√ √
To determine the values of the damping coefficient, c for each damper setting
M = MA + ML
√ √
Damper setting = 3.
√ √
Damper setting = 5.
√ √
Damper Setting X1 X2 X3 X4 X1 X2 X3 X4
20.00 16.0 15.3 13.3
excitations (input) and responses (output) are time dependent. The response of a vibrating system
generally depends on the initial conditions as well as any form of external excitations (S.S Rao,
2011). The vibrations which occur in a mechanical equipment most often results from forces which
arise from the functional operation of the equipment (D.V. Hutton, 1981). Therefore, analysing a
vibrating system will involve setting up a mathematical model, deriving and solving equations
pertaining to the model, interpreting the results and assumptions and reanalyse or redesign if need
be.
DISCUSSION.
The experimental and calculated results does not differ much as there is a marginal error of about
2.4% (that is: ). This might be as a result of some system imbalance
and/or hysteresis. Similarly, the discrepancy might be a result of some error in calculations.
As the experiment was been carried out with different damper settings, the frequency of oscillation
of the pendulum reduces as the damper setting increases. When the damper was set to a high
setting, the pendulum simply remained stationary because the there was no room for any form of
displacement of the pendulum except there is additional force exerted to overcome the damping
force in place.
The mathematical model used for the system is a valid one for determining the damping values as it
was not too complex. Starting with an initial elementary model of differential equation of motion
and then developed gradually and refined to accommodate the other input components and details
to closely calculate and observe the system behaviour.
Advantages of damping
Dampers dissipate energy within a system by converting it to heat. If designed properly, damping
forces can be completely out of phase with structural stress. Thus, the right damper can reduce
stress and deflection simultaneously. Without damping, there would be no suspension in cars. With
no suspensions, it would be twice as dangerous to drive in a car as it is today. The handling of the
wheels would be extremely difficult, and breaking will be much uneasy.
Damping is employed across different areas aside the automotive industry which includes but not
limited to Aerospace and Defense, Heavy Industry steel Mills, Aluminium Mills, Shipbuilders
Offshore Oil Drilling, Civil Engineering buildings, Bridges and Stadiums Towers.
Similarly, Damping can cause additional friction losses and heat build-up in certain machineries
which a bit of disadvantage.
CONCLUSION
Set objectives for this laboratory exercise was achieved with a good knowledge about the subject
matter of pendulum behaviour and response when subjected to free oscillatory motions.
The theory of free vibrational motion with and without viscous damping was studied and
appropriate mathematical model was used to calculate the value of the spring stiffness, K the
natural frequency, when the large mass was attached, also the value of the natural frequency,
with no mass attached. The damping coefficient was also calculated for different damping setting.
Damping is very useful and it should be incorporated in the design of systems or mechanism
subjected to vibrations and shock as it helps to minimize fatigue and failure. The right damper will
reduce stress and deflection.
REFERENCES:
David H. Hutton, Applied Mechanical Vibrations (1981), McGraw-Hill Series. London.
G.H. Ryder and M.D. Bennett, Mechanics of Machines (2nd Ed), Macmillan: Hong-Kong.
Singiresu S. Rao, Mechanical Vibrations (5th Ed.) 2011, Pearson: Singapore.
Douglas P. Taylor, The Application of Energy Dissipating Damping devices to an Engineered
Structure or Mechanism [Online].http://www.shockandvibration.comn
Accessed: 20th March 2014.
JDJ: Vibration Types [Online]
http://www.mcasco.com/Answers/qa_vtype.htm
accessed: 20th March 2014.