Mechanical Vibrations: MEC4047F

University of Cape Town:

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Tutorial 3
Marks: 75, Duration: 135 minutes at exam pace
Tuesday 10 March 2015, 14:00

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1

Question 1. [15 Marks]

Following the worldwide recall of current Toyota models due to an error in the brake pedal
system of their motor vehicles, you are asked to model a car brake pedal. The system is
modelled as a pendulum pivoting at point O, shown in Figure 1. What are the damped and
undamped natural frequencies of the system? What driving frequency, in terms of m, k and c,
will cause resonance of the system? You may assume that the masses of the rod, spring, and
damper are negligible, and that the rotation of the rod is small enough such that the spring
and damper can be assumed to remain horizontal.

Figure 1: Model of a car brake pedal

Question 2. [6 Marks]
A reciprocating pump weighing 30kg is mounted in the middle of a light metal plate 15mm
thick, 50mm wide, and 3m long. It is assumed that the ends are tightly clamped down, and
that the supporting plate has a Youngs modulus of 200GP a. During the operation of the
pump, the plate is subjected to a harmonic force , F (t) = 200 cos 60t N . Find the amplitude
of the vibration of the plate. Further, what does a negative amplitude imply?
l3
Hint: The deflection of a fully built in beam subjected to a central load W is
192EI

MEC4047F: Tutorial 3

Question 3. [15 Marks]

A cam-follower system is shown in Figure 2. The push-rod acts as a spring and has stiffness
k and was compressed by x0 during assembly (assuming the cam to be at its lowest position bottom dead centre - during assembly). The cam has a radius of R and rotates about a point
which is eccentric by a distance e. The follower has a radius of r.
a) If you assume no separation between the cam and follower derive the equation of motion
of the follower (of mass m). Note that you will need to include the stiffness of the camfollower interface (ki ) in your derivation. Ensure you draw the system you are modelling,
taking care to indicate the coordinates used.
[8 Marks]
b) If the follower were to suddenly experience an external force f0 upwards for a very short
period of time t, what would the time history of the system be?
[7 Marks]

Figure 2: Model of a vertical cam-follower system

Question 4. [20 Marks]

A simple mechanical oscillator is attached to the edge of a glass table. The table is constructed
such that the glass is held in a wooden frame. The oscillator is set up such that the transition from wood to glass occurs at the equilibrium position. The oscillator is given an initial
displacement of x0 = 50mm (i.e. it starts over the wood). The properties of the oscillator
are m = 4kg, k = 144N/m. Assume friction to be negligible while the system is running over
glass, but that the wood has a friction coefficient of 0.4.
a) Draw free-body diagrams for the three states in the system.

[3]

b) Over the first 1.3s, when does the system have zero velocity?

[3]

c) Over the first 1.3s, when does the system transition from one surface to another (i.e.
when x = 0m)?
[2]
d) Determine and draw the response over the first 1.3s.

[7]

e) When the mass transitions back onto the wooden frame from the glass for the first time
what is the distance travelled over wood?
[5]

MEC4047F: Tutorial 3

Turn Over

x
m
Glass

Wood
Clamp
Figure 3: Oscillator clamped to wood and glass table
Question 5. [7 Marks]
A slow motion video of an indoor soccer game is filmed under fluorescent lights. When played
back at 22f ps (frames per second) the light in the video appears to oscillate in intensity.
a) Explain what is happening and describe the phenomenon being demonstrated.

[4]

b) How many times slower is the replay than the real action?

[3]

Question 6. [12 Marks]

You are asked to use your knowledge of the central difference method to find an algorithm to
an ODE different to the classic vibrations equation of motion. The ODE you need to solve is
cx(t)
+ kx(t) = f (t) .
a) Starting with the truncated Taylor expansion about time step n, derive the evolution
equation to find xn+1 using the central difference method.
[6]
b) Compose an algorithm for this numerical solution in pseudo-code no longer than one
page. This pseudo-code should indicate what data is provided by the user, and the
minimum calculations needed to successfully run such a program.
[6]

MEC4047F: Tutorial 3

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