Mechanical 

Vibration
(MEng3072)

Chapter 1: introduction

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 Chapter objectives
After completing this chapter the student should be able to do the following;
Define what is mechanical vibration?
Explain (understand) the importance of learning mechanical vibrations?
Gives various classifications of vibrations?
State the steps involved in vibration analysis?

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 Introduction Mechanical Vibrations

• Defined as oscillatory motion of bodies in response to disturbance.

• Oscillations occur due to the presence of a restoring force
• It is defined by the frequency (or frequencies) and amplitude.

Either the motion of a physical object or structure or, alternatively, an

oscillating force applied to a mechanical system is vibration in a generic sense.
Conceptually, the time-history of vibration may be considered to be sinusoidal
or simple harmonic in form.
The frequency is defined in terms of cycles per unit time, and the magnitude in
terms of amplitude (the maximum value of a sinusoidal quantity).

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 • Vibrations are everywhere:

 Human body: eardrums, vocal cords, walking and running

 Vehicles: residual imbalance of engines, locomotive wheels
 Rotating machinery: Turbines, pumps, fans, reciprocating machines
 Musical instruments
• Excessive vibrations can have detrimental effects:

 Noise
 Loosening of fasteners
 Tool chatter
 Fatigue failure
 Discomfort
• When vibration frequency coincides with natural frequency, resonance occurs.
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 Classification of vibrations
vibration can be classified in several ways. Some of the classifications are as
follows .

Free vibrations
No external force acts on a system.
If a system after an initial disturbance, is left to vibrate on its own, the
ensuing/resulting/ vibration is free vibration.
The oscillation of simple pendulum of free vibration.

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Forced vibrations
If system is subjected to an external force(often, a repeating type of forces),
the resulting vibration is called forced vibrations. The oscillation that are raised
in machine such as diesel engine is an example of forced vibrations.
If the frequency of the external force coincides with one of the natural
frequencies of the system called resonance occur and the system undergoes
dangerously large oscillations.

Un damped vibration
If no energy is lost or dissipated in friction or the resistance during oscillation
the vibrations called un damped vibrations.

Damped vibration
If the is lost in this way called damped vibration
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 Deterministic vibration
If it is deterministic, it follows an established pattern so that the value of
the vibration at any designated future time is completely predictable from the
past history.

Random vibration
If the vibration is random, its future value is unpredictable except on the
basis of probability.
Random vibration is defined in statistical terms wherein the probability of
occurrence of designated magnitudes and frequencies can be indicated.
The analysis of random vibration involves certain physical concepts that
are different from those applied to the analysis of deterministic vibration.

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 Linear vibration
if all the basic components of vibratory system spring , mass and damper
system behave linearly, the resulting vibration known as linear vibration.
Non linear vibration /torsional vibration /
Any of the basic components behave non linear ly, the vibration is called
non linear vibrations.

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Why we study vibrations?
Although any system can oscillate when it is forced to do so externally, the term
“vibration” in mechanical engineering is often reserved for a systems that can
oscillate freely with out applied forces.
Sometimes these vibrations cause minor or serious performance or safety
problems in engineering systems.
But it is also advantageous/useful/ due to,
Most human activities involve vibrations in one form or other.
For examples, we hear because our ear drums vibrate and see because light
waves undergo vibration.
Human speech requires the oscillatory motion of tongues
Breathing associated with the vibration of lungs.
Walking involves(periodic) oscillatory motion of legs and hands.
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In recent times, many investigations have been motivated by the engineering
applications of Vibrations, such as the design of machines, foundations,
structures, turbines, and control systems .
Most prime movers have vibrational problems due to inherent unbalance in the
engines.
The unbalance may be due to fault design or poor manufacture.
Imbalance in diesel engines, for example cause ground waves sufficiently
powerful to create a nuisance /pain, irritation, annoyance/ in urban areas.
In turbines vibration cause spectacular /impressive ,stunning/ mechanical failures.

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 CONTROL OF SHOCK AND VIBRATION

Methods of shock and vibration control may be grouped into three broad categories:
1. Reduction at the Source
a. Balancing of Moving Masses. Where the vibration originates in rotating or
reciprocating members, the magnitude of a vibratory force frequently can be
reduced or possibly eliminated by balancing or counterbalancing. For example,
during the manufacture of fans and blowers, it is common practice to rotate
each rotor and to add or subtract material as necessary to achieve balance.
b. Balancing of Magnetic Forces. Vibratory forces arising in magnetic effects of
electrical machinery sometimes can be reduced by modification of the magnetic
path. For example, the vibration originating in an electric motor can be reduced by
skewing the slots in the armature laminations.

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 c. Control of Clearances. Vibration and shock frequently result from impacts
involved in operation of machinery.
In some instances, the impacts result from inferior design or manufacture, such
as excessive clearances in bearings, and can be reduced by closer attention to
dimensions.
In other instances, such as the movable armature of a relay, the shock can be
decreased by employing a rubber bumper to cushion motion of the plunger at the
limit of travel.

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 2. Isolation
a. Isolation of Source. Where a machine creates significant shock or
vibration during its normal operation, it may be supported upon isolators
to protect other machinery and personnel from shock and vibration.
For example, a forging hammer tends to create shock of a magnitude great
enough to interfere with the operation of delicate apparatus in the
vicinity/near/ of the hammer. This condition may be alleviated/minimized/
by mounting the forging hammer upon isolators.

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 b. Isolation of Sensitive Equipment. Equipment often is required to
operate in an environment characterized by severe shock or vibration.
The equipment may be protected from these environmental influences by
mounting it upon isolators. For example, equipment mounted in ships of
the navy is subjected to shock of great severity during naval warfare and
may be protected from damage by mounting it upon isolators.
3. Reduction of the Response

a. Alteration of Natural Frequency. If the natural frequency of the structure

of an equipment coincides with the frequency of the applied vibration, the
vibration condition may be made much worse as a result of resonance.
Under such circumstances, if the frequency of the excitation is substantially
constant, it often is possible to alleviate the vibration by changing the natural
frequency of such structure.
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 For example, the vibration of a fan blade was reduced substantially by
modifying a stiffener on the blade, thereby changing its natural frequency and
avoiding resonance with the frequency of rotation of the blade.
Similar results are attainable by modifying the mass rather than the stiffness.

b. Energy Dissipation. If the vibration frequency is not constant or if the

vibration involves a large number of frequencies, the desired reduction of
vibration may not be attainable by altering the natural frequency of the
responding system. It may be possible to achieve equivalent results by the
dissipation of energy to eliminate the severe effects of resonance.

For example, the housing of a washing machine may be made less susceptible
to vibration by applying a coating of damping material on the inner face of the
housing.
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 c. Auxiliary Mass. Another method of reducing the vibration of the
responding system is to attach an auxiliary mass to the system by a
spring; with proper tuning /alteration, modification/ the mass vibrates
and reduces the vibration of the system to which it is attached.

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 Vibration analysis procedure
A vibratory system is dynamic one for which the variables such as
excitations(inputs) and responses(outputs) are time dependent. The response
of a vibrating system generally depends on the initial conditions as well as the
external excitations.
Thus the analysis of the vibrating system usually involves mathematical
modeling , derivation of the governing equation, solution of the equations,
interpretations of the results.

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 Step 1 mathematical modeling
The purpose of mathematical modeling is to represent all the important
features of the system for the purpose of driving the mathematical
(analytical) equations governing the system’s behavior.

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 Step 2 derivation of governing equations.
Once the mathematical model is available, we use the principles of dynamics
and drive the equations that describe the vibration of the system. The equation
of the system (motion ) can be derived conveniently by drawing the free body
diagram of all masses involved.

Step 3 solution of the governing equation

The equation of motion must be solved to find the response of vibrating system.
Depending on the nature of the problem, we can use one of the following
techniques for finding the solutions;
Standard methods of solving differential equation
Laplace transforming methods
Matrix methods,
Numerical
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S 07/05/2021
 Step 4 interpret the results
 The solution of the governing equations gives the displacements,
velocities and accelerations of the various masses of the system.
These result must be interpreted with a clear view of the purpose of
the analysis and the possible design implications of the results.

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 THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

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