Experiment No 5: Vibration Analysis of Beam.

Ritik Chaudhary, R Roshan, Sanas Varad R, Srikant Venkataraman, Sukran

Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIST
(Dated: October 24, 2022)
A simple setup of cantilever beam with piezoelectric sensors connected to an oscilloscope is used
to find out the Young’s modulus of the material with which the beam is made of. The beam used is
a stainless steel scale. Using the frequency and amplitude obtained, calculations are done and the
result is presented.

NOMENCLATURE time are called free vibrations. Hence, the amplitude of

vibrations too, is constant. But in real life systems, the
δl Deflection (m) energy is dissipated to the surroundings. Due to damp-
ing, the amplitude of the oscillations decays to zero.
E Young’s modulus
From Hooke’s law, the deflection is directly proportional
I Second moment of area to the force F.
k stiffness (N/m) F = kδl
L Length Where
M Mass
k = (2πfn )2 m
P Force (N)
From Euler-Bernoulli theory of beam deflection, for a
cantilever beam -
I. INTRODUCTION F l3
δl =
3EI
The objective of the experiment is to measure the natu-
ral frequency of vibration of the specimen which is related
3EI
to the modulus of elasticity using vibration test method ⇒k=
It is a non-destructive test method that uses frequency, l3
dimensions and mass of a test piece. Young’s modulus From the above equations Young’s modulus can be de-
is a material property which is the ratio of stress along termined
the direction of strain to the strain up to elastic limit. It
is very important in designing various engineering struc- The natural frequency of vibration is given as :
tures like bridges, pillars which might undergo consider-
able deflections. r r
The test uses an oscilloscope which consists of piezo- k 3EI
ωn = =
electric sensors which generate potential when strained. M M L3
These sensors produce electric signals by sensing instan-
The Young’s modulus is given as,
taneous strain values. These signals when fed to the os-
cilloscope produce a damped vibration curve from which
the natural frequency is obtained. The modulus of elas- M L3 ωn2
ticity can be calculated by finding the stiffness parameter E=
3I
first using the known density and dimensions of the spec-
imen. In ideal case the amplitude of oscillation remains con-
stant. But in real case energy dissipated to the surround-
ings. Damping changes the amplitude of vibration as
II. THEORY follows :

y(t) = Y e−ζωn t cos(ωd t − ϕ)

In the experiment setup. vibration test is done on a
mechanically excited cantilever beam. Cantilever beam
is a beam with one of the ends fixed and the other end
free.
The method is based on measuring the resonant fre-
quency of exural vibrations of a rectangular beam. The
oscillations where the total energy stays constant over
The damped frequency of vibration is :
p
fd = fn 1 − ζ 2
Since the damping is very small, the natural frequency
can be approximated as the damped frequency
NOMENCLATURE 2

FIG. 2. oscilloscope

FIG. 1. Damped harmonic oscillations

3. The monitor was checked for the data , along the y
axis , voltage proportional to tip displacement and
A convenient way to determine the amount of damping along the x axis time in milliseconds.
present in a system is to measure the rate of decay of free
oscillations. The larger the damping, the greater will be 4. The data was taken in the Usb for the plot of con-
the rate of decay. tinuous variation of y with x to apply Logarithm
decrements method to find damping factor.
The logarithmic decrement which is defined as the nat-
ural logarithm of the ratio of any two successive ampli-
tudes is used to determine this damping coefficient. It is V. OBSERVATIONS
given as,
 
A1 2πξ
δ = ln =p
A2 1 − ξ2

By assuming the damping ratio to be small then damping

ratio ξ is given as

δ
ξ=
2π

III. APPARATUS
FIG. 3. Stress strain curve
1. Stainless steel scale
2. Bench vice
points t1 (s) A1 ( V ) t2 (s) A2 (V) δ
3. oscilloscope A, B -0.23 0.172 -0.10075 0.168844 0.018518
B, C -0.10075 0.168844 0.02425 0.167839 0.00597
4. Piezoelectric sensors C,D 0.02425 0.167839 0.15225 0.157789 0.061748
E,F -0.143 -0.174 -0.0165 -0.167 0.041061
5. Connecting wires G,H 0.112 -0.167 0.237 -0.165 0.012048

TABLE I. Calculation of damping factor from the plot

IV. PROCEDURE

1. The dimension and mass of the stainless steel scale

VI. RESULTS
was measured.
2. The machine was connected , and the scale was • The damping factor obtained through the experi-
given a gentle impulse. ment is 0.004435.
NOMENCLATURE 3

points η ∆t (s) νd (Hz) νn (Hz) E ( Gpa ) flection upon application of loading P , but actually in
A, B 0.002947 0.12925 7.736944 7.73702 305.9209 the performed experiment , there is not such scenario of
B, C 0.00095 0.125 8 8.000092 327.0707 loading the beam at tip once , the beam tip is oscillating
C,D 0.009827 0.128 7.8125 7.81259 311.9189 after giving some initial impulse , and when it is oscillat-
E,F 0.006535 0.1265 7.905138 7.90523 319.3601
ing , there is actually some internal bending stress which
G,H 0.001918 0.125 8 8.000092 327.0707
cause the beam tip to oscillate continuously and those os-
TABLE II. Calculation of Young’s modulus from the plot cillations are damped because the other end is clamped
when that end is stretched within the elastic limit restor-
ing force cause the free end to bend and return back to
• The young’s modulus obtained through the experi- its mean position and it overshoot in other direction be-
ment for the steel material of scale is 318.2683 GPa. cause of energy possessed by motion. so the model de-
scribed in the theory is approximated only , it should
not be the first alternative to be chosen as experiment
VII. DISCUSSION design to calculate Young’s modulus of steel because the
tip displacement expression in terms of length , E , P
The sources of error in the experiment can be within is derived by applying equilibrium condition on the con-
the electronic circuit or the material can be under fatigue trol volume but this phenomena here involved dynamics ,
because of its again and again use and the graph shown so the model developed here representing vibration have
clearly represents that there is less damping and the ob- limitations and they are just very simplified analysis of
tained value of damping factor 0.0044 is in accordance the actual phenomena.
with that but the damping factor values for different cy-
cles are coming different. The possible reason is that the
system is not perfect spring mass damper. There can
be variation of stresses inside the scale section. so the
displacement varies according to that because internal
IX. REFERENCE
damping due to altered material properties is there.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QQRpju4lcI
VIII. CONCLUSION
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg1ckq6yMj4

The performed experiment uses the technique of con-

tinuum solid mechanics approach for deriving the tip de-