VIBRATION

ENGINEERING
(MEEN 30142)

ENGR. LUISITO B. TOLENTINO

Instructional Material for Vibration Engineering

Lesson 1 – Introduction to Vibration Control

Introduction:

Vibration signifies to and fro motion about some equilibrium configuration This is
undesirable in most engineering systems. The ill effects of vibration include: Fatigue failure
Structures like aircraft fuselage Machine components like crankshaft. Severe damages due to
resonance collapsing of bridges, damages in transmission lines damages to offshore structures.
Malfunctioning of sensitive Instruments/ systems payloads from vibration of launching rockets.
high precision machining micromachines & microassembly Loss of accuracy of work-piece due
to vibration of machine tools.

Learning Objectives:

After successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Adverse effects of vibration

• Quantitative description of vibration
• Parameters of vibration system

Course Materials:

Loss of accuracy of work-piece: Shifting of tool position due to vibration of cutting tool
This phenomenon is generally referred as 'chatter vibration'. There are two types of chatter:
Forced chatter : Force chatter originates in the driving system ( for eg. from a motor) and gets
transmitted to the cutting zone. Self excited chatter : Self excited chatter is generated due to
uneven surface of the work piece, fractures of metal swarf etc.

Typical fatigue failure in a shaft due to torsional oscillation

Camshaft assembly of a 6.5 MW diesel engine

Broken camshaft (apparently due to malfunctioning of torsional damper) Such torsional
oscillations are caused either due to the periodic accelerations of the pistons, rods and cranks
or due to the periodic variation in gas pressure inside the engine cylinder.

Vibration isolation of spacecraft from the launching vehicle

The challenge is to isolate the payload such that at three different sinusoidal excitations of
frequencies 5Hz, 25Hz and 100 Hz, the vibration amplitude is to be reduced by 20 dB. The
isolation is achieved by the hexapod assembly by using stiff piezoelectric actuators that extend
and contract in response to the vibration originating at the base. This hexapod assembly is
commonly known as Active Stewart Platform.

Quantitative Description of Vibration Vibration is defined as the response of an elastic system

subjected to dynamic disturbance. Complete description of a vibration problem involves three
components:, Vibrating system Excitation and Response
Parameters of Vibration System Every vibrating system, in general, comprises of three
parameters, these are Inertia, Stiffness, and Damping.

Inertia and Stiffness are generally modelled as simple elements like:

Damping Damping is the most difficult parameter among the three parameters. Various
mechanisms, indeices and measures are used to model damping. Some of the simple damping
models are: Viscous damping, Coulomb Friction and Material damping model.

Viscous damping

Coulomb Damping

Consider a single degree of freedom (SDOF ) model

 m = mass k =
spring constant
c = viscous damping coefficient

Here, Excitation is the applied

dynamic force and Response is
Monitored in terms of displacement or
velocity . The excitation and response of a system are often characterized by the physical
variables, such as: Displacement, Velocity, Acceleration, Stress and Noise etc. The selection of
these variables depends on various factors, such as the nature of the problem and the objective
of the analysis. A typical example will clarify this issue.

Analysis of ride-comfort
Here excitation is described in terms of displacement and response is described in term of
acceleration of the vehicle.

Watch
Video 1 https://youtu.be/dEnzMvrXNj4
Assessment:

Activity 1

A. Define the following:

a. Periodic Motion
b. Periodic Vibrations
c. Hooke’s Law
d. Simple Harmonic motion
e. Amplitude
f. Period
g. Frequency
B. Why do we study Vibration?
C. What are the importance concepts in periodic motion?

Lesson 2 – Strategies of Vibration Control

Introduction:

Control of Vibration Control of vibration or vibration suppression is possible using various

passive and active methods Passive action is independent of the resulting vibration – Open
Loop System. Active method is dependent on the resulting vibration – Closed Loop System.
Various Active and Passive Control Strategies

Learning Objectives:

After successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Control of Vibration
• Various Active and Passive Control Strategies o Reduction of excitation at the source o
Isolation of the Source o System Redesign o Remedial Measures
• Steps in Vibration Control
Reduction of excitation at the source Examples:
Balancing of unbalanced inertia forces – rotors, engines
Changing the flow characteristics for flow induced vibrations
Reducing friction, avoiding vortex shedding to reduce self-excitation,
Reduce parameter variation for parametric excitation

Source provides the energy to maintain vibration. sources of vibration could be of several types:
(ii) Isolation of the source

Modify the transmission path of vibration between source and the system to protect the system.

Example - Insertion of resilient elements – Springs, Dampers, Viscoelastic Materials, Pneumatic

Suspension etc. between the source and the system.

Very often vibration isolators are developed using a combination of springs and dampers. For
example, viscoelastic materials are bonded to metal fasteners and used as anti-vibration
mounts or isolators. The construction of a typical bonded rubber spring for use under
compressive loading is shown below

(iii) System modification

A large number of methods exist in this group including detuning, decoupling, using additive
damping treatments ( constrained and unconstrained ), stiffeners and massive blocks (as
foundation)

Consider the motion of the following single degree of freedom (SDOF) system:
(I) At low frequency the vibration is:
Stiffness controlled

(II) Near resonance, the vibration is

Damping Controlled

(III) Aat high frequency, the vibration is

Inertia Controlled

Redesign of a Vibrating System

Redesign of a vibrating system involves modelling of materials – generally Structural

materials: metals and alloys
Viscoelastic polymers: natural and synthetic rubbers (with additive)

For metals and alloys:

Stiffness is a function of elastic moduli ( E, G, K ) and the geometric dimensions depending on

the type of loading and deformation (bending, twisting etc.) Damping and Loss Factor are
generally constant.
Inertia depends on Density and Geometry.

Viscoelastic Materials

Viscoelastic materials: butyl rubber, plasticized polyvinyl acetate, silicon rubber, polyurethane,
thiokol RD etc.

Stiffness and Damping properties for viscoelastic materials are frequency and temperature
dependent due to transition from Glassy to Rubbery Phase.

Thiokol RD: The loss factor is 2 corresponding to a critical frequency of 7 Hz at 50C and around
800 Hz at 200C.
Viscoelastic Materials

A qualitative plot of loss coefficient vs, Young's modulus for different classes of materials is
shown here for comparison.
(iv) Use of Additive Layers

This involves addition of a secondary vibratory system to the original (primary) vibratory system
which is under excitation. Some secondary systems are vibration neutralizer, vibration absorber,
tuned, selftuned, impact absorbers. This strategy has been successfully used for suppressing
vibration in very small to very large systems.

Examples: electric hair clippers, DC-9 aircraft, tractors, foot bridges, pipelines etc.

Viscoelastic materials are used as additive damping treatments: constrained and unconstrained
layers

Extensional and shear deformation of the damping layer

 Often spacers are designed to enhance extensional damping

Steps in Vibration Control:

A. Identification and characterization of the source of vibration.
B. Specify the level to which the vibration should be reduced.
C. Select the method appropriate for realizing the vibration reduction level identified in step B.
D. Prepare an analytical design based on the method chosen in step C.
E. Realize in practice (i.e. hardware mechanization of) the analytical design constructed in step
D.

Step A: Identification and characterization of the source of vibration

Note: Often for a linear system, the analysis of the response helps in determining the nature of
the excitation. As shown here, the response can be analysed either in time domain or in
frequency domain.

Step B - Identify suitable response variable and decide on the accepted level of vibration

Different design manuals/handbooks are available which corresponds to acceptable level of

vibration for specified field of applications. The table below is an excerpt of some of the
frequently encountered applications and corresponding accepted level of vibration.
Step C: Choice of a Method of Vibration Control

To control vibration effectively one can choose any of the five methods as discussed earlier or a
combination of these methods.
Watch
Video 2 https://youtu.be/g8I-
HHPcoQk

Assessment:

Activity 2
 1. Write a reaction paper between video 1 and video 2 and cite relevant ideas and
principles for vibration engineering.
2. A spring is hung vertically and an object of mass m attached to the lower end is then
slowly lowered a distance d to the equilibrium point
(a.) find the value of the spring constant if the magnitude of the displacement d is 2.0 cm
and the mass is .55 kg
(b.) if a second identical spring is attached to the object in parallel with the first spring,
where is the new equilibrium point of the system?
(c.) What is the effective spring constant of the two springs acting as one?
3. A 13KN car starts at rest and roll down a hill from a height of 10m. It then moves across
a level surface and collides with a light spring loaded guardrail
(a.) Neglecting any losses due to friction , and ignoring the rotational kinetic energy of
the wheels. Find the maximum distance the spring is compressed assume a spring
constant of 1.0 x 10 6n/m.
(b.) Calculate the magnitude of the car’s maximum acceleration after contact with the
spring , assuming no frictional losses
(c.) If the spring is compressed by only 0.3m find the change in the M.E. due to friction

Lesson 3 – Active Vibration Control

Introduction:

Control of Vibration Control of vibration or vibration suppression is possible using various

passive and active methods Passive action is independent of the resulting vibration – Open
Loop System. Active method is dependent on the resulting vibration – Closed Loop System.
Various Active and Passive Control Strategies

Learning Objectives:

After successful completion of this lesson, you should familiarize to:

• Different strategies for vibration control

• Comparison of feed forward and feedback control
• Implementation of controller
• Smart structural control
• Comparison between two methods of Active Vibration Control (AVC) Important
issues related to AVC
Course Materials:

Different Strategies for vibration control:

Strategies (ii), (partly) (iv) and (v) are related to Active Vibration Control.

Applications of Active Vibration Control includes:

a. vibration and shape control of flexible systems like optical
mirror
b. gitter control of high precision instruments
c. active suspension system for ride comfort in advanced
vehicles

Application 1: Vibration & Shape Control of Optical Mirror

Active Control of Optical Aperture

This type of mirrors are ideally suitable for light weight ultra-large space telescopes. A
set of such flexible mirror segments could be assembled to form the actual mirror. The surface
quality is < 30nm. Stroke requirements for such adjustments is <2µm.Usually PZT actuators are
bonded behind deformable silicon mirror membranes for this purpose. An electric field applied
perpendicular to the piezoelectric layer plane will induce lateral contraction and thereby cause
large out of plane deformation of the membrane.

Expanded view of the legs of a 6 DOF Isolator

For a 6 DOF active Isolator:
• Piezo -actuators offer transmission of low frequency torque and suppression of high
frequency vibration isolation
• Alternate to piezo -actuators are Terfenol - D rod, voice-coil etc

Active Vibration Control as shown in this diagram involves design of suitable vibration sensors,
processing of sensory data and then feeding back necessary signal to the actuators for vibration
control.
In a more abstract way the same could be depicted by a block diagram as shown here.

where, r – reference signal, e – error signal, s-variable in the frequency domain, H – Transfer
function of the sensor, G – Transfer function of the vibrating system, d- disturbance, Gc -
Transfer function of the controller and y – output/response of the system.
Occasionally, if the nature of the disturbance is known then a feed-forward technique is adopted
as shown here.
Special cases: Shunting of mechanical energy to electrical energy This involves transformation
of vibrational energy by the piezoelectric material and designing a suitable electrical network to
dissipate this energy.

The piezoelectric patch is represented as a capacitor and a voltage source in series

Implementation of Controller: Inertial Actuator (Electro-mechanical System)

With the advent of new technologies, actuators and sensors are getting miniaturized and
integrated to the structure. Thus, there is a transition from traditional active control to smart
structure based active control. A case study of helicopter rotor vibration control will illustrate this.

Electro-Hydraulic Actuator

Smart Structural Control

Traditional active control can essentially control a finite number of vibrating modes of a
continuous system. This may create instability due to the unwanted excitation of the higher
modes. Smart structural control, on the other hand, is distributed in nature. It consumes less
energy, gurantees stability and could be integrated easily to the vibrating body.

Comparison between two methods of AVC

Important issues related to AVC

 • Active Vibration Control (AVC) is important when there are stringent specifications on
Performance and Weight Savings.
• Passive solutions are in general cheaper than AVC.
• One should not consider that AVC will always give better performance and it can
compensate for a bad design. It should be considered as the last resort.
• Feedback control can compensate external disturbance only in a limited band, outside
the bandwidth the disturbance is actually amplified.
• Semi-active Vibration control is being considered as a trade-off solution.

Assessment:

Activity 3

1. Cite at least three sample application for each lesson.

2. Detail the processes of the sample.
Problems:
3. A 1.30 x 103-kg car is constructed on a frame supported by four springs. Each spring
has a spring constant 2 x 104 N/m. If two people riding in the car have a combined mass
of 1.60 x 102 kg, find the frequency of vibration of the car when it is driven over a
pothole in the road. Find also the period and the angular frequency. Assume the weight
is evenly distributed.
4. What are the position, velocity and acceleration of an object vibrating at the end of a
horizontal spring after 1 minute if the equation for its position is x = (500 mm) cos ( 𝝅t) ?
𝟖
5. Find the amplitude, frequency and period of motion for an object vibrating at the end of a
horizontal spring if the equation for its position as a function of time is x = (0.250 m)
cos ( 𝝅 t)
𝟖𝟎𝟎
(a.) Find the maximum magnitude of the velocity and acceleration.
(b.) What are the position, velocity and acceleration of the object after 100s has
elapsed?