Experiments conducted in

Vibrations Laboratory

Sohan Rao
190977009
M.Tech (CAAD)
 List of Experiments

Sr. No Title Page No.

1. Analysis of spring-mass systems to find out their 1
natural frequencies.
2. Analysis of the simple pendulum and compound 11
pendulum.
 Analysis of various configurations of the spring-mass systems.

AIM:
To carry out experiments with the various configurations of the spring-mass
system to find out the natural frequencies of the respective system and
compare the results with the theoretically derived values.
Apparatus:
Coil springs, weights, ruler, stopwatch.

Theory Principles:
The equation of motion for the system for a system in vibration is:

where m is the mass of the system in vibration, is the acceleration of the

mass, c is the damping coefficient of the system, is the velocity, k is the
stiffness of the system, and x is the displacement. Now in a spring-mass system
we assume that the damping factor is absent. Thus the equation now obtained
is:

where the symbols mean their usual meanings. Stiffness of the spring-mass
system is primarily due to the spring which is assumed massless. It is derived by
by taking the force causing it to deform divided by the deformation it
undergoes. Thus the equation is:

where the symbols have the usual meanings. When the initial weight is added
the spring deflects to a certain extent which is the deflection at
equilibrium. Now when the weight is deflected from the equilibrium position, it
oscillates about the mean point. When the time taken for a particular number
of oscillations of the weight about the mean position is recorded, one can
obtain the natural frequency of the system by the equation:
Where t is the time taken for one oscillation, and is the natural frequency
of the system. Experimentally one can find the natural frequency of the spring-
mass system this way. Also one can find the natural freqency if one has the
number of oscillations per second by multiplying the value with radians to
make it from oscillations per second to radians per second.
Analytically for a series or a parallel or a series-parallel combination of springs
in the system, one can find out the effective stiffness by using the following
equations.

where equation 1 is the effective stiffness of two springs in parallel and

equation 2 is the effective stiffness for two springs in series.
Now, the equation of motion can be written as below:

where the symbols have their usual meanings. Thus one can obtain the natural
frequencies of the systems either analytically or experimentally.

Procedure:
 Take a spring at random and fix it onto the apparatus and measure the
undeflected length.
 Add a weight to the other end of the spring and measure the deformed
length of the spring. Measure the static deflection by taking the
undeformed length and the deformed length.
  Follow the same procedure to find the deflections of the other springs.
 From these readings we can calculate the stiffness of the springs.
 Now attach a mass of known value and give the system an excitation by
pulling the weight down a bit. Notice the oscillations and record the time
taken for 20 oscillations. Take 3 readings for the same weight.
 Follow the previous step by increasing the weights. Note down the
readings.
 Now follow the above procedure for two spring in series, two springs in
parallel, two springs in parallel and one spring in series configurations
and record the data. Compile all the data in a tabulated form as shown
below.

Results:
Table 1.1: Stiffness of the spring under consideration.
Sr no. Deformed Mass Weight
length (m) (kg) (N)

(m)
(N/m)

1 0.120 .020 2 19.62 981

2 0.125 .025 2.5 24.525 980
3 0.132 .032 3 29.43 919
4 0.141 .041 3.5 34.335 837

Take undeformed length of the spring as 0.10m.

kavg = 930N/m
To calculate the Natural Frequency of the systems.

Table 1.2: Time required for 20 oscillations for different configurations.

Sr. no Mass Time for 20 oscillations (s)
(kg)
Single 2 springs 2 springs Series-parallel
spring Series parallel
1. 1 5.17 5.57 4.2 6.53
2. 2 5.85 8.32 4.92 7.47
3. 2.5 6.2 9.60 5.3 7.97
4. 3 6.89 10.82 5.79 8.47

Table: 1.3: No. of oscillations per second

Mass Single spring 2 springs 2 springs Series-parallel
series parallel
1 3.868472 3.590664 4.761905 3.062787
2 3.418803 2.403846 4.065041 2.677376
2.5 3.225806 2.083333 3.773585 2.50941
3 2.902758 1.848429 3.454231 2.361275

Table 1.4: Natural Frequencies of the systems with different configurations.

Sr no. Mass Single spring 2 springs in 2 springs Series
series parallel parallel
1. 1 24.31567 22.56948 29.93143 19.25145
2. 2 21.48923 15.10962 25.55122 16.82892
3. 2.5 20.27613 13.095 23.71925 15.77315
4. 3 18.24557 11.61848 21.71192 14.84203

Analytical Aspect:
Recalling equation 1 and 2 one can calculate the effective stiffness of the
system. Table 1.5 provides the stiffness for various configurations.

Table 1.5: Effective stiffness of the springs for different configurations

Single spring 2 springs 2 springs Series parallel
series parallel
930 465 1860 640

The natural frequency was arrived at equation 3. Thus, the table given below
gives the natural frequencies of the systems arrived analytically using equation
3.

Table 1.6: Natural frequencies of the systems derived analytically.

Mass Single spring 2 springs in 2 springs in Series parallel
series parallel
1 30.4959 21.56386 43.12772 25.29822
2 21.56386 15.24795 30.4959 17.88854
2.5 19.2873 13.63818 27.27636 16
3 17.60682 12.4499 24.8998 14.60593

Graphs:
 Graph 1.1: weight vs static deflection.

Comparison between experimental values and analytical values for the natural
frequencies.

Graph 1.2:
Graph 1.3:

Graph 1.4:
 Graph 1.5:

Inferences:
 The force acting on the spring is directly proportional to the deflection at
equilibrium. Thus, the spring used for this experiment has constant
stiffness or in other words the spring is a linear stiffness spring.
 The values of natural frequencies obtained analytically for various
configurations of the spring-mass systems are almost identical to the
values obtained experimentally.
 Analysis of simple pendulum and compound pendulum systems
Aim:
To find verify the natural frequency of the simple pendulum. To find the radius
of gyration and centre of percussion for the compound pendulum.
Apparatus:
Pendulum experiment setup, bob attached with string, ruler, stopwatch.
Theory principles:
Simple Pendulum
Consider a simple pendulum with a mass attached to it at one end and fixed at
the other end as shown in the figure. Let l be the distance form the fixed point
to the centre of the mass. Now using the Newton’s second law of motion for
angular motion we get,

Since we take to be very small we can approximate to . Thus the

above equation becomes,

So, the natural frequency of the pendulum can be given by

Now the time period is given by

Upon simplification we obtain the following expression,

So if we plot a graph of the square of time taken to the length of a pendulum

we should get a straight line whose slope is 4.02.
Compound pendulum
Compound pendulum is an arrangement wherein the mass is not concentrated
at one point like in a simple pendulum but is distributed across the body. Let us
consider a rigid body of mass ‘m’ and pivoted about a point so that it can rotate
about that pivoted point.

Now applying Newton’s second law of motion for angular motion we get,

Where is the polar moment of inertia of the mass, h is the distance between
pivot and center of mass. is expressed as,
Substituting in the equation of motion we get,

For small , . Thus the equation can further be simplified as,

Where is the radius of gyration of the compound pendulum.

Center of percussion: It is a point on the mass such that if it is interchanged
with the center of rotation it should have the same natural frequency as that of
the previous system. In the figure, P is the ceente of percussion.

Consider the equation above for the natural frequency of the system. The
frequency of the system is given as,

With the orientationin the above figure the natural frequency is for length .
Now if the point ‘p’ is interchanged with pivot point ‘o’ then we get another
natural frequency corresponding to new . But as per the definition, the
natural frequencies must be the same. Upon simplification, we obtain,

is the distance from pivot point ‘O’to the center of mass, whereas is the
distance from the centre of percussion to the pivot point ‘P’.

Procedure:
Simple pendulum
 Take a bob of some mass and fix it to the test setup with a string
 Take a particular length say 20 centimetres and allow the bob to
oscillate. It is advised to displace the bob by a small amplitude for the
system to behave like an undamped system.
 Note down the time taken for 10 oscillations.
 Extend the length in increments of 5 centimetres and repeat the above
steps and record the data in a tabulated form.

Compound pendulum
 Take a mass of known mass like a heavy rod and pivot it about one end
of the rod so that it can oscillate about a point.
 Note the position of the centre of mass.
 Allow the pendulum to oscillate with small amplitudes and record the
time for 10 oscillations.
 Change the length ‘h’ by pivoting at another point on the rod such that
the length is now increased compared to the previous length and
perform the above steps.
 Enter the data into a tabulated form.
Tables:
Table 2.1: Observation table for simple pendulum
Length of Time for 10 oscillations Tavg
pendulum
20 8.93 8.9 8.96 8.93

25 10.2 10.28 10.35 10.27

30 10.88 10.46 10.93 10.75

35 11.58 11.67 11.56 11.60

40 12.14 12.49 12.33 12.32

Table 2.2: Natural frequency at different lengths.

Length of Time for one
pendulum (l) oscillation (s)
(rad/s)

20 0.893 7.032475

25 1.027 6.114898

30 1.075 5.84186

35 1.16 5.413793

40 1.232 5.097403

Table 2.3: Observation table for compound pendulum

Length OG Time for 10 oscillations Tavg
75 17.4 17.18 17.29

175 12.4 12.63 12.68 12.57

375 14.23 14.4 14.53 14.38667

Table 2.4: Natural frequencies of the compound pendulum

Length OG Oscillations/s Natural
frequency
75 1.73 3.63
175 1.26 4.98
375 1.44 4.36

Table 2.5: Radius of gyration and centre of percussion of the compound

pendulum
L1 Tavg Radius of L2
gyration
75 17.29 0.222 0.65712

175 12.57 0.196 0.21952

375 14.38667 0.228 0.138624

Analytical aspect:
To arrive at the natural frequency of the simple pendulum, we used the
newton’s second law of motion and arrived at

Thus, the values obtained analytically are as follows ,

L1 Natural frequency
20 7.003571

25 6.264184

30 5.718391

35 5.294202

40 4.952272

Similarly, the data for natural frequency for compound pendulum is as follows,
L1 Natural
frequency
75 3.660525

175 4.986548

375 4.370306

Graphs:

Graph 2.1: plot of time2 v/s length of pendulum

Graph 2.2: comparison of analytical and experimental natural frequencies
obtained.

Graph 2.3: comparison of analytical and experimental natural frequencies

obtained.
Inference:
 It was observed that the slope of the line obtained graphically was 3.462
v/s the analytical value of 4.02.
 The natural frequencies both analytical and experimental of the simple
pendulum were similar.
 The natural frequencies both analytical and experimental of the
compound pendulum were similar.
 The center of percussion was determined analytically.