Oscillations

Damped SHM (qualitative) - Forced Oscillation - Resonance - Helmholtz’

resonator

Simple Harmonic Motion

Simple harmonic motion is a type of periodic motion or oscillation motion where the restoring

force is directly proportional to the displacement and acts in the direction opposite to that
of displacement.
2
d x
m 2 =−kx
dt
2
d x k
+ x=0
dt m
2

2 k
ω 0= =¿natural frequency of the system.
m

The equation of motion is x=asin ω 0 t

Damped simple harmonic motion

A pendulum will swing only briefly under water, because the water exerts a drag force on the
pendulum that quickly eliminates the motion. A pendulum swinging in air does better, but even
there the motion dies out eventually, because the air exerts a drag force on the pendulum and also
friction, transferring energy from the pendulum’s motion. When the motion of an oscillator is
reduced by an external force, the oscillator and its motion are said to be damped. If the damping
force is given by F d=−βv , where v is the velocity of the oscillator and β is a damping constant
then the displacement of the oscillator is
−βt / 2 m '
x ( t )=x 0 e sin ⁡(ω t+ φ)

where ω =
k
−
β2
'
m 4 m2 √
 Forced Oscillation

If an external driving force with angular frequency ω acts on an oscillating system with natural
angular frequency ω 0, the system oscillate with angular frequency ω

x (t)=a sin(ωt + ϕ)

The velocity of the oscillation is greatest when ω=ω 0. This is called resonance.

All mechanical structures have one or more natural angular frequencies, and if a structure is
subjected to a strong external driving force that matches one of the angular frequencies, the
resulting oscillations of the structure may rupture it.

Aircraft designers must make sure that none of the angular frequencies at which a wing can
oscillate matches the angular frequency of the engines in flight. A wing that flaps violently at
certain engine speeds would obviously be dangerous.

Mathematical formulation of Forced vibrations

It is a phenomenon that occurs when a system – a physical oscillator – is subjected to a periodic

driving force by an external agency.

It is typical of this type of motion that the driven system is compelled to accept whatever
repetition frequency the driving force has, its tendency to vibrate at its own natural frequency may
be in evidence at first, but ultimately gives way to the external influence.

We take a system to be the usual mass on a spring of spring constant k . A sinusoidal driving
force F=F a cosωt is applied to the system. A damping force is always acting on the system which
is proportional to velocity.

The equation of motion of the forced oscillator is

d2 x dx
m =−kx−β + Fa cosωt
dt 2
dt
 2
d x β dx k
2
+ + x=F cosωt
d t m dt m a

Where β=¿ coefficient of damping force

F a= magnitude of the force

ω= angular frequency of the driving force.

2
d x dx 2
+ γ + ω0 x=f a cosωt
dt
2
dt

β 2 k
γ= and ω 0= =¿natural frequency of the system. We use the complex exponential method,
m m
our equation then becomes
2
d z dz 2 jωt
2
+ γ + ω0 z=f a e
dt dt

We assume the solution

j (ωt−φ)
z= A e with x=ℜ( z)

Substituting we get

(−ω2 A + jωγA +ω 02 A ) e j(ωt−φ)=f a e jωt

( ω02−ω2 ) A + jγωA=f a e jωt e− j (ωt −φ)=f a e jφ
( ω02−ω2 ) A=ℜ( f ¿ ¿ a e jφ )=f a cosφ ¿
γωA=f a sinφ

fa F a /m
Therefore A= =
√ (ω 0
2 2
−ω 2) + ( γω )
2
√(ω 0
2 2
−ω 2 ) + ( γω )
2

γω
tan φ=
(ω 02−ω 2 )

φ=tan−1
( γω
( ω 02−ω2 ) )
Taking real part of z= A e j (ωt−φ) x= A cos ⁡(ωt−φ)
This equation gives a lot of information about the steady state behavior of the forced oscillation.

φ the phase difference exists between displacement and force. We see different behavior of the
oscillator when ω is far from ω 0 and when it is far fromω 0. We will discuss these two cases.

(a)Small amplitude damping, driving frequency far from natural frequency

2
In this case ( γω )2 will be much smaller than ( ω02−ω2 ) and we can neglect the term ( γω )2

fa
Then A=
√ (ω 0
2
−ω 2)
2

In figure below we can see the dependence of the displacement amplitude of an oscillator on the
angular frequency of the driving force for different amounts of damping present in the system. In
ω
all these cases the amplitude is greatest when =1. The curves in this figure show that smaller
ω0
the damping, the taller and narrower is the resonance peak. If we go on changing the driving
frequency the amplitude tends to infinity when it equals the natural frequency.

(b) Driving force close to natural frequency.

If ω is very close to ω 0, ( ω02−ω2 ) would be much less than ( γω ) for any reasonable value of γ .

fa
A=
γω

This makes it clear that the maximum possible amplitude for a given driving frequency is
governed by the driving frequency and the damping, and is never infinity. This phenomenon of
increase in amplitude when the driving force is close to the natural frequency of the oscillator is
called resonance.
Helmholtz resonator

Helmholtz resonator is used to determine the frequency of a vibrating body

with the help of the phenomenon of resonance. The resonator consists of either
a spherical or a cylindrical air cavity with a small neck. The dimension of the
cavity is small in comparison with the wavelength of sound to be detected. In
case of spherical cavity the volume of the cavity is fixed whereas the volume is
variable in case of cylindrical cavity. The air contained at the neck of the
resonator acts like a piston alternatively compressing and rarefying the air
within the cavity of the resonator.

A brass, spherical Helmholtz resonator based on his original design↑

Let x = displacement towards the cavity of the piston of sectional area A at any instant t and δP
be the increase in the pressure in the cavity.

Total force acting on the piston is

2 2
d x d x
m 2
= Alρ 2 =A δP
dt dt

A = area of cross-section of the neck

V = volume of the resonator

l = length of the neck

ρ = density of air

Alρ=¿ Mass of air in the neck

Sincethe pressure change∈the cavity is adiabatic

 γ
P V =constant
γ γ −1
¿ , δP V + Pγ V δV =0

δV
¿ , δP=−γP
V
2
d x δV
Substituting δP Alρ =− AγP
dt 2
V

2 2
d x δV d x γP δV
lρ 2
+ γP =0 2 + =0
dt V d t lρ V
2
d x γP Ax
+ =0 [δV = A × x]
d t 2 lρ V
2
d x γPA
+ x=0
d t 2 lρV

Thus we have the equation for SHM

2
d x
2
+ ω2 x=0
dt

2 γPA
ω=
lρV

The velocity of propagation of sound in a gas v=

√ γP
ρ

ω=
√ γPA
lρV
=v
A
lV √
¿ frequency=ν=
v A
√
2 π lV
2
2 v A
¿ν V= 2
=constant .
4π l

Using the above formula we can determinethe velocity of sound in air.