Mechanical Vibration (ME-411)

Week 03-04

Engr. Muhammad Farooq

A critically damped system will have the smallest damping required
for aperiodic motion; hence the mass returns to the position of rest
in the shortest possible time without overshooting. The property of
critical damping is used in many practical applications. For example,
large guns have dashpots with critical damping value, so that they
return to their original position after recoil in the minimum time
without vibrating. If the damping provided were more than the
critical value, some delay would be caused before the next firing.
 Single DoF free vibration system
Logarithmic decrement
The logarithmic decrement represents the rate at which the amplitude of a
free-damped vibration decreases. It is defined as the natural logarithm of
the ratio of any two successive amplitudes.
 Single DoF free vibration system
Logarithmic decrement:
2
t 2  t1   d   d 
x1 (t ) Ae  nt1 cos d t1    d
  nt2 But
x2 (t ) Ae cos d t 2    cos d t 2     cos 2  d t1   
 cos d t1   
x1 (t ) e  nt1
So   n  t1  d   en d
x2 (t ) e
Assume: δ is the logarithmic decrement

x1 (t ) 2 2
  ln   n d   n 
x2 (t ) 1   n
2
1  2
Logarithmic decrement: is dimensionless
Single DoF free vibration system
Logarithmic decrement

 
 2  2   2
For small damping ; ζ <<1

  2
Single DoF free vibration system
Generally, when the amplitude after a number of cycles “n” is
known, logarithmic decrement can be obtained as follows:

1 x (t ) 2
  ln 1 
n xn (t ) 1  2
where x1 (t) is the first known amplitude, xn (t) is the other known
amplitude after n cycles of the decayed motion.
Single DoF free vibration system
Example 2.6

An under-damped shock absorber is to be designed for a motorcycle

of mass 200 kg (Fig.(a)).When the shock absorber is subjected to an
initial vertical velocity due to a road bump, the resulting
displacement-time curve is to be as indicated in Fig.(b).

Requirements:
1. Find the necessary stiffness and damping constants of the shock
absorber if the damped period of vibration is to be 2s and the
amplitude x1 is to be reduced to one-fourth in one half cycle (i.e. x 1.5 =
x1/4 ).
Single DoF free vibration system
Example 2.6
Note that this system is under-damped system
 Single DoF free vibration system
Solution:
Finding k and c
x1
Here, n  0.5 and  4, then the logarithmi c decrement is :
xn
1 x1 1 2
  ln  ln  4   2.7726 
n xn 0.5 1  2
   0.4037

2 2 2
d  2    n   3.4338 rad / s
d n 1   2
n 1  0.4037 2
 Single DoF free vibration system
The critical damping can be found as:

cc  2mn  2 200  3.4338  1373.54 N.sec/m

Damping coefficient C and stiffness K can be found as:

c   cc   0.4037 1373.54  554.4981 N.sec/m... ....(Ans.)

k  m   200  3.4338  2358.2652 N/m........(Ans.)

2 2
n