Vibration Isolation Theory

1. Foundations and mountings are protected against large forces producesd in equipment.
Example of this class of problems include protecting mountings from large inertia forces
generated by reciprocating machines and protecting a foundations from a large impulsive
forces produced by a drop hammer.

A model one-degree- of- freedom system is shown in fig. 56. The differential equation
governing the displacement of the mass is

Where wn=k is the system’s natural frequency and g=c is the system’s damping ratio. The
forces transmitted to the foundation through the spring and viscous damper is

2. Equipment is protected against motion of its foundations. Examples of this class of problems
include protecting sensitive computer equipment or protecting a computer on a ship from
sudden motion due to waves and rough seas.
A model one-degree- of- freedom system for this class of problems is shown in fig. 56. The
differential equation governing the relative displacement between the mass and its
foundation is

Where wn=k. The acceleration transmitted to the mass due to the motion of the base is
given by

Where Ft is the total force developed in the spring and viscous damper.

For force transmission problem, given the excitation force Ft, the two quantities of most
concern are the maximum displacement of the machine, Xmax, and the maximum force
transmitted to the foundation, Ft. For motion transmissionproblems, given the base
acceleration yt, the two quantities of most concern