TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT 2
MODULE OF FREE VIBRATION ENGINEERING
1st SEMESTER S.Y. 2016 - 2017

SUBMITTED BY:

SUBMITTED TO:

BALAIS , ADRIAN C.

ENGR. PICAR

BOCITO, RAVEN
MONTAS, REINIER
PAEZ, MEYNARD
TALAY, IVAN GIL

OCTOBER 5, 2016

Introduction
Free vibration: Free vibration takes place when a system oscillates
under the action of forces inherent in the system itself due to initial
disturbance, and when the externally applied forces are absent. The
system will oscillates about one of its static-equilibrium positions.
Basically there are two types of systems. They are the discrete and
continuous systems. In the case of discrete systems, the physical
properties are discrete quantities and the system behavior is described
by ordinary differential equations. The system has finite number of
degrees-of-freedom whereas in the case of continuous system the
physical properties are function of spatial co-ordinates and the system
behavior is described by partial differential equations and has infinite
number of degrees-of-freedom. In other words, a system can be
considered as discrete in which the whole mass of the system is lumped
at some points and in case of continuous system the mass is distributed
over the entire length of the system. An n-degrees-of-freedom system is
governed by n coupled differential equations and has n natural
frequencies. So the discrete system has finite number of natural
frequencies and the continuous system has infinite number of natural
frequencies. The system under free vibration will vibrate at one or more
of its natural frequencies, which are properties of the dynamical system,
established by its mass and stiffness distribution.
Frequency: The number of oscillations completed per unit time is known
as frequency of the system.
Natural Frequency: The frequency of free vibration of a system is
called Natural Frequency of that particular system.
Damping: The resistance to the motion of a vibrating body is called
Damping. In actual practice there is always some damping (e.g., the
internal molecular friction, viscous damping, aero dynamical damping,
etc.) present in the system which causes the gradual dissipation of
vibration energy and results in gradual decay of amplitude of the free
vibration. Damping has very little effect on natural frequency of the
system, and hence, the calculations for natural frequencies are generally
made on the basis of no damping. Damping is of great importance in
limiting the amplitude of oscillation at resonance
Free vibration takes place when a system oscillates under the
action of forces inherent in the system itself due to initial disturbance,
and when the externally applied forces are absent. The system under
free vibration will vibrate at one or more of its natural frequencies, which
are properties of the dynamical system, established by its mass and
stiffness distribution.
In actual practice, there is always some damping (e.g., the
internal molecular friction, viscous damping, aero-dynamical damping,

etc.) present in the system which causes the gradual dissipation of

vibration energy, and it results gradual decay of amplitude of the free
vibration. Damping has very little effect on natural frequency of the
system, and hence, the calculations of natural frequencies are generally
made on the basis of no damping. Damping is of great importance in
limiting the amplitude of oscillation at resonance.

The relative displacement configuration of the vibrating system

for a particular natural frequency is known as the mode shape (or eigen
function in continuous system). The mode shape corresponding to lowest
natural frequency (i.e. the fundamental natural frequency) is called as
the fundamental (or the first) mode. The displacements at some points
may be zero. These points are known as nodes. Generally nth mode has
(n-1) nodes (excluding end points). Mode shape changes for different
boundary conditions of a beam.
Concept
A. Free Vibration of Spring-Mass System
Differential Equation for a spring-mass system
Let us consider a spring-mass system as shown in Fig. 1.1. The
system is constrained to move in the vertical direction only along the
axis of the spring. Let k and m be the stiffness of the spring and the
mass of the block, respectively.

Let x be the position of the mass at any instant from the

equilibrium position of the mass and it is assumed that x is positive in
the downward direction and negative in the upward direction. In the
spring-mass system only one coordinate is enough to describe the
position of the mass at any time, and hence, it is single degree-offreedom system. Here the coordinate is x.

Fig.1.1: Spring-mass system

Fig. 1.2: Free Body diagram of the mass

The free-body diagram of the mass is shown in Fig.2. Applying

DAlemberts principle, the equation of motion of the mass can be
obtained as,
(1.1)
The natural frequency of the system,

is,

(1.2)
Let

(1.3)

be the solution for this differential equation (1.1).

Initial conditions:

(1.4)
Substitution of Eq.1.3 into Eq.1.1 and application of Eq.1.4 yields,

(1.5)
Time period:
The time taken to complete one cycle, is,
(1.6)

It is important to note that, even though there is no specific damper

attached to the system, there will always be the presence of damping of
very small in amount. Because of this the response obtained from
experiment always corresponds to a small amount of damping.
Let c be the damping coefficient, then the equation of motion changes
to,
(1.7)
Damping ratio ( ):

It can be defined as the ration of the damping coefficient to the critical

damping coefficient.

(1.8)
Where

is the Critical damping coefficient, given by:

(1.9)

If

, the system is said to be over-damped system.

If

, the system is said to be critically damped system.

If

, the system is said to be under-damped system

Following the same procedure as described above and by applying the

initial conditions, the solution of the differential equation can be obtained
as.

For Over-damped system

(1.10)
Where,

and

For Critically-damped system

(1.11)
For Under-damped system

(1.12)
The damped natural frequency of vibration is given by,

(1.13)
Where

is the time period of the oscillation:

The motion governed by this solution is of oscillatory type whose

amplitude decreases in an exponential manner with the increase in time
as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 1.3: Displacement-time plot of an under-damped system with

general initial conditions

The logarithmic decrement is given by,

(1.14)
Substituting Eq.1.13 into Eq.1.14,

(1.15)

B. Free Vibration of a Cantilever Beam with a Lumped Mass at

Free End
Theoretical natural frequency for cantilever beam

Fig. 2.1 (a): A cantilever beam

Fig. 2.1 (b): The beam under free vibration

A cantilever beam with rectangular cross-section is shown in Fig.

2.1(a). Bending vibration can be generated by giving an initial
displacement at the free end of the beam. Fig. 2.1(b) shows a cantilever
beam undergoing a free vibration.

When a system is subjected to free vibration and the system is

considered as a discrete system in which the beam is considered as

mass-less and the whole mass is concentrated at the free end of the
beam. The governing equation of motion for such system will be,

(2.1)

Where m is a concentrated mass at the free end of the beam and

k is the stiffness of the system. The transverse stiffness of a cantilever
beam is given as (using strength of materials deflection formula,
Timoshenko and Young, 1961),

(2.2)

Where E is the Youngs modulus of the beam material (it can be

obtained by the tensile test of the standard specimen). The fundamental
undamped circular natural frequency of the system is given as,

(2.3)

Where, m is an equivalent mass placed at the free end of the

cantilever beam (of the beam and sensor masses). By substituting
equation 2.2 into equation 2.3 we get,

(2.4)
The undamped natural frequency is related with the circular natural
frequency as

(2.5)

the moment of inertia of the beam cross-section and for a circular crosssection it is given as,

(2.6)

Where, d is the diameter of cross section, and for a rectangular cross

section

(2.7)

Where b and d are the breadth and depth of the beam crosssection as shown in Fig. 2.2. Dimensions of the beam material are given
in Table 2.2

Fig. 2.2: A rectangular cross-cross of the beam

In case of the test specimen, the beam mass is distributed over

the length. However, by taking one-third of the total mass of beam at the
free end (Thompson. 1961), the system can be assumed as discrete
system. Hence,

(2.8)

Where mb is the mass of beam and is given as

Where , is the mass density of the beam material and V is the volume
of the beam from the fixed end to the free end.
The equivalent tip mass of a cantilever beam can be obtained as
follows. Consider a cantilever beam as shown in Fig. 2.3 (a). Let be m1
the mass of the beam per unit length, l is the length of the beam,
mb=m1l is total mass of the beam, and Vmax is the transverse velocity
at the free end of beam and f is the force applied, E is the youngs
modulus of the beam and I is the moment of inertia of the beam.

Fig. 2.3(a): A cantilever beam with distributed m

Fig. 2.3(b): The cantilever beam with a tip mass

Consider a small element of length dx at a distance x from the

free end (Fig. 2.3 (a)). The beam displacement at this point is given by
(Timoshenko and Young, 1961),

(2.9)

Here fl3/3EI is the deflection at free end of the cantilever beam. Now the
velocity of the small element at distance x is given by,

Hence, the kinetic energy of the element is given by

and the total kinetic energy of the beam is

(2.10)
where m1l = mb. If we place a mass of 33/140mb at the free end of the
beam and the beam is assumed to be of negligible mass, then

Total kinetic energy possessed by the beam =

(2.11)

Hence two systems are dynamically same. Therefore, the

continuous system of cantilever beam can be changed to single degree
freedom system as shown in Fig. 2.3(b) by adding the 33 /140mb of
mass at its free end.

Values of the mass density for various beam materials are given in
Table 2.1. If any contacting type of transducer is used for the vibration
measurement, it should be placed at end of the beam and then the mass
of transducer has to be added into the equivalent mass of the beam at
the free end of the beam during the natural frequency calculation. If mt
is the mass of transducer, then the total mass at the free end of the
cantilever beam is given as,

(2.12)

Exercises
1. What is the natural frequency of a system?
2. Does the natural frequency of a system depend on mass?
3. How can you find the stiffness of a spring?
4. Explain the reasons in observing the damping phenomenon in
the current experiment even though there is no damper
attached to the setup.
5. How many natural frequencies can a system have?
6. What is the effect of damping ratio or damping factor on the
system. What happens if it is equal to 1?
7. What is the damped natural frequency and how it differs from
the natural frequency of a system?
8. How can you justify that given spring mass system as single
degree-of-freedom system?
9. Can you change the stiffness of the system? What will happen
to the natural frequency if you do so?
10. What is the necessity of finding the natural frequency?
11. If an external damper is provided to this system, what will
be the effect on response of the system and if there is effect
how it changes?
12. What are the practical examples of the discrete systems
and continuous systems.

The theoretical natural frequency obtained is damped or

undamped natural frequency?
The experimental natural frequency obtained is damped or
undamped natural frequency?

What would be the effect on the natural frequency when a notch

is cut on the cantilever beam?
Where the location of the notch would have effect on the natural
frequency of the cantilever beam?
Do you think the sensor weight would affect the natural
frequency of the beam?
What is the affect of damping on the natural frequency? Could
you tell whether the obtained natural frequency is damped
natural frequency or undamped one?
What is the relationship between the damped and undamped
natural frequencies?
Do you think the natural frequency and the damping ratio would
change if we consider subsequent consecutive free vibration
amplitudes instead of first two amplitudes?
Do you think the beam tightening at the support (i.e., the
flexibility of support) would affect the natural frequency of the
system?
What type of free vibration signal you would expect if the beam
is given initial disturbance other than the free end (i.e., if the
initial disturbance excites higher modes of vibration also)?
How many distinct natural frequencies can exist for an N
degree of freedom vibratory system?
Is the frequency of a damped free vibration smaller or greater
than the natural frequency of a system? Why?
What is the basic difference between the free responses
exhibited by an under dampeds ystem and an over damped
system?
For the system given in example 2.1, if we add a mass of 500k
gm at free end then find out the natural frequency of that
system?
How many number of degree of freedom has the given system if
it is considered as discrete system with N number of masses in
Fig 2.1?
A system has n mode shapes. Then how many numbers of
natural frequencies the system has?
Do you think other boundary conditions (e.g., the simply
supported beam, fixed-fixed, or free-free beam) have same

natural frequency as fixed-free case (i.e. cantilever case)?

Obtain the theoretical natural frequencies for such case of the
present beam and compare with the present one.
Damped free oscillation amplitude is observed to be reduced to
20% of its initial amplitude in 100 complete cycles. Estimate the
damping ratio .