Mechanical Vibrations

(Theory & Practice)

Lecture Notes
Chapter 1

Dr.Shrikant Bhave

SKB
 Introduction
 Any motion that repeats itself after an interval of time is called vibration or
oscillation. The common day to day examples of vibrations are swinging
pendulum of the clock , motion of plucked string of a musical instrument and
vibrations experienced by the passengers in the car which runs on rough road.
 The vibrations experienced by the components/structures usually result in
their stretching / unstretching or twisting / untwisting or both. As a result,
they experience alternating stresses and thus experience stress induced
fatigue which, under circumstances, may cause failure without giving any
warning.
 There are several reasons for studying the subject of theory and practice of
vibration analysis. In large number of cases, the vibrations of the machinery /
structures cause physical discomfort and in many cases, long term exposure of
the components of the machinery / structures to vibrations causes mechanical
failures in them. These failures could cause devastation. Examples: vibrations
caused by earth quake cause enormous damage to house properties and loss
of human life.
 In this course, we shall deal with vibration analysis, diagnostics and control
considering the potential of damage associated with vibrations. The analysis is
not restricted to mathematical analysis only but also takes into account the
experimental analysis. This is because of certain limitations of both analytical
as well as experimental methods in the analysis of complex vibration
problems.

SKB
 Important Definitions SKB
 If one looks at the oscillatory motion of a pendulum, it is very easy to note that
at the extreme of swings, where the pendulum momentarily stops and starts
reverse motion, the velocity is zero. At this point kinetic energy is zero but the
potential energy is largest. Thus, there is transfer of its potential energy to
kinetic energy and kinetic energy to potential energy alternately. Same is the
case with vibratory system consisting of a spring and mass. The spring stores
the potential energy while mass (or inertia) stores kinetic energy. The spring is
any elastic element such as beam, rotor etc.
 If we observe the vibration of spring mass system by disturbing it from its
stable position, the vibrations over a certain period of time will diminish. Such
vibrations are called the damped free vibrations. Thus, the system has a
damper by means of which energy is gradually lost. The damper can be a dash
pot, friction device, surrounding medium or even the vibrating component
which undergoes alternate deformations.
 It is thus obvious that in order to sustain the vibration, a disturbing force must
be applied. such sustained vibrations caused by a disturbing or perturbation
force, the vibrations are called forced vibrations.
 In case damping is very negligible, the vibrations can be considered as
undamped free vibrations or undamped forced vibrations.
 Degrees of Freedom SKB
 the simplest kind of vibration system may consist of a single spring, a damper and
the mass or it may be just a swinging pendulum. Such a system has only one
parameter to be evaluated i.e. the time dependent (single) displacement of the
mass from its position of equilibrium. Such systems are called single degree of
freedom (SDOF) systems. The analyses of such systems are relatively simple.
 But in real life situations, we deal with very complex systems having multiple
degrees of freedom. For example, we may have two/three or many more
degrees of freedom. The figure below shows typical two degrees of freedom
systems. The strict definition of number of degrees of freedom is n = number of
masses * number of possible types of motion for each mass.

PUMP
MOTOR

SIMPLIFIED MODEL OF PUMP MOTOR

 CLASSIFICATIONS OF VIBRATIONS
 The vibrations in a body are caused by the application of forces. These forces
are called the perturbation forces. Depending upon the nature of the
perturbation/disturbing force, the vibrations can be classified as (1) steady
state vibration when the perturbation forces do not change with time, (2)
unsteady state vibration when the forces causing vibrations change with time,
or (3) random vibration caused by randomly occurring forces. There is yet
another type of vibration which is called self excited vibrations.
 Typical example of steady state vibration is the shaft and bearing vibration in
the rotating machinery caused by mechanical imbalance in the rotating parts
or say misalignment and unbalance of the coupled rotors.
 As long as the speed of the machine remains constant, this perturbation forces
caused by imbalance/misalignment will remain in steady state On the other
hand the blades of the turbo machinery experience pressure pulsations which,
in large number of cases change with time and on account of these unsteady
forces the blades may experience unsteady vibrations.
 Vibration caused by earthquake are random vibrations. A galloping
transmission line is an example of a self excited vibration.

SKB
 Vibration Analysis SKB
 The vibration analysis of a vibrating system usually involves mathematical
modeling, derivation of governing equations, solution of the equations and finally
the interpretation
 The main intention of mathematical modeling is to represent all the important
features of the vibrating system in such a way that we are able to derive the
mathematical equations governing the system’s behavior. The mathematical
model should include enough details to be able to describe the system in terms of
equations without making them too complex.
 Sometimes the mathematical model is gradually improved to obtain more accurate
results. In this approach, we first select a very crude or elementary model to get a
quick insight into the overall behavior of the system. For example we can consider
the vibration analysis of a three story building when subjected to seismic
excitation. The three spring mass system can be approximated as SDOF system

Three floors represented by three

masses and columns by three springs
(three degrees of freedom system.
Assuming all floor masses are added and
all springs are added resulting in a single
mass & spring, we get a simple system.
Derivation of Governing Equations & solution
 Once the mathematical model is available, we use the principles of dynamics to
derive the equations of the vibratory motion of the body subjected to the
prescribed perturbation (excitation force). The equations of motion can be
derived very easily by drawing the free body diagrams for all the masses
involved.. The equations of motion of a vibrating system are usually in the form
of a set of ordinary differential equations for a discrete system (consisting of
lumped masses, springs and dampers) and partial differential equations for a
continuous system. The equations may be linear or nonlinear depending upon
the behavior of the components of the system.
 The equations of the motion are solved to find the response of the vibrating
system. Depending upon the nature of the problem, we can use one of the
following techniques for finding the solution: 1) standard methods of solving the
differential equations, 2) Laplace transform method and 3) numerical method. In
case the governing equations are nonlinear, it is very difficult to obtain close
form solution. In case the governing equations are partial differential equations,
the solution becomes extremely complex. In such a case numerical methods
involving computers are required to be used.
•  
 Interpretation
• The solution of the governing equations gives the displacements, velocities
and accelerations of the various masses of the system. The results must be
interpreted with a very clear view of the purpose of the analysis whether it
is for design validation or for solving a vibration problem being experienced.
• The analytical methods have their own limitations. It is therefore necessary
to make practical vibration measurements under certain circumstances. The
measurements involve not only the measurement of the response of the
system to actual perturbation forces being experienced but also for
determining the inherent structural properties such as mass distribution,
stiffness distribution (springs in discrete systems) and the damping. The
measured data then can be used to make discrete system models which can
be used for parametric studies which then can become a very powerful tool
for design as well as for solving the existing vibration problem.
• Solving a vibration problem or designing equipment such that it will not fail
prematurely does require inputs of both analytical as well as the
experimental methods.
 
 
Thank You