Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

Faculty Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and

Science
Department: Department of Mechanical and Materials
Engineering
Unit Code and Name UEME 3233 Mechanical Vibrations
Experiment No.: 1
Title of Experiment: Determination of the Stiffness of a Helical Spring
Laboratory Room No. and Name: KB724 Manufacturing and Materials
Engineering Lab
Experiment Duration (hour): 0.5 hours
Number of Student per Group 5 students

Objectives (Optional)
To measure the stiffness of a helical spring

Introduction
The spring constant is a characteristic variable of springs. It reflects the relationship between
spring force and spring deflection. This relationship is linear for the helical springs normally
used, i.e. double forces will likewise double the spring deflection.

The following equation indicates the relationship between spring force F and spring travel x,

F kx

where k is the spring constant.

For the purposes of experimental determination, the spring is loaded by adding weights m
and the elongation x is measured. k can be calculated as below:

m2 m1 g
k
x 2 x1

As a check on linearity, the measured values can also be plotted in a force-elongation graph.

Equipment and Materials

Quantity estimation
Item Description *Item category (e.g. per set/group of student)
IMC Cronos-PL E 1 unit
IMC Studio 5 Pro S 1 unit
Vibration Kit E 1 set
Computer E 1 set

*Item category
SP Sample or specimen
C Consumable

Latest updated: 14th January 2016

CH Chemical
W Labware, glassware, tool, and
components
E Equipment
S Software

Caution Statement (Optional)

Student are remaindered to pay extra care while conducting the experiment as there
are moving parts in the equipment which might cause injury.
IMPORTANT: Do not overload spring. Maximum permissible deflection is up to
300mm.

Procedure
1. Set the spring-mass system without any test weight to a static position.
2. Start the data acquisition system.
3. Load spring by adding test weights to the carriage.
4. The data acquisition system will record the readings.
5. Analyse the readings by plotting the graph and calculate the constant, k.

Questions & Report Writing

Student is required to provide a table to tabulate all the data measure.
Discuss the dynamics behaviours of the spring measured.
Conclude your work and findings for the experiments.

Latest updated: 14th January 2016