Mechanical Vibrations

Chapter 1

Peter Avitabile
Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Massachusetts Lowell
22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Basic Nomenclature and Terms Used

Free vibration:
System oscillation under action of forces inherent

in system and external forces absent

Vibration occurs at one or more of the system

natural frequencies

Natural frequencies are dynamic characteristics

of based on system mass and stiffness

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Basic Nomenclature and Terms Used

Forced vibration:
System oscillation under action of external forces
If excitation is oscillatory, then the response will

occur at the excitation frequency

If excitation occurs at one of the natural

frequencies, then the condition of resonance

occurs

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Basic Nomenclature and Terms Used

Damping:
All dynamic systems are subject to dissapative

forces - friction, structural resistances

Generally, damping in structural systems is small

and has little effect on the natural frequency

However, damping has a large effect on

minimizing the resonse of any structural system

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Basic Nomenclature and Terms Used

Degrees of Freedom (DOF):
The number of independent coordinates required

to uniquely describe the motion of a system are

degrees of freedom

A rigid body will have 6 DOF to describe its

motion - 3 translation and 3 rotation

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
Oscillatory Motion:
Motion that repeats in regular intervals of time

is called periodic motion

Reciprocal of the repititon time is the frequency

f=1

If the motion is periodic, then

x ( t ) = x ( t + )

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
Harmonic motion can best be seen in the figure
with the amplitude and period noted

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
The motion is described as
1
x = A sin 2

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

(1.1.1)

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
The displacement is written as
x = A sin t

(1.1.2)

The quantity is written in radians/sec and is

referred to as the circular frequency as
= 2f

(1.1.3)

The period, , and frequency, f, are measured in

seconds and cycles/second, respectively

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
The displacement is written as
x = A sin t

(1.1.2)

The velocity is written as

x& = A cos t = A sin(t + / 2)

(1.1.4)

The acceleration is written as

&x& = 2 A sin t = 2 A sin(t + )

(1.1.5)

Note that
&x& = 2 x

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

10

(1.1.6)

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
Note that the velocity leads the displacement by
90 degress and the acceleration leads the velocity
by another 90 degrees

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

11

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Harmonic Motion
In exponential form, these equations are
expressed as
ei = cos + i sin
z = Aeit = A cos t + iA sin t = x + iy

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

12

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

(1.1.7)
(1.1.8)

Periodic Motion
J.Fourier (1768-1830) showed that any periodic
motion can be represented by a series of sines and
cosines that are harmonically related
x ( t ) = 12 a 0 + a1 cos 1t + a 2 cos 2 t + L
+ b1 sin 1t + b 2 sin 2 t + L

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

13

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

(1.2.1)

Periodic Motion
This results in a and b as
/ 2

2
an =
x ( t ) cos n t dt

/ 2
/ 2

2
bn =
x ( t ) sin n t dt

/ 2

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

14

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

(1.2.3)

Periodic Motion
And ultimately (with some manipulation)

a0 1
x ( t ) = + 2 (a n + ib n )ei t + 12 (a n ib n )e i t
2 n =1

a0
= + c n ei t + c*n e i t = c n ei t
2 n =1
n =

where c 0 =

a0
2

(1.2.4)

; c n = 12 (a n ib n )

/ 2

/2

1
1
i t
dt
or c n = x ( t )(cos n t i sinn t )dt = x ( t )e
/ 2
/ 2
n

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

15

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

(1.2.6)

Vibration Terminology
Average value is

x=

lim
T

T
1
x ( t )dt
T
0

Peak to peak, peak and RMS are commonly used

Peak

T = Period

RMS = 0.707 for sin

Peak to Peak

1 T 2
RMS =
y ( t ) dt

T 0

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

16

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

Vibration Terminology
The decibel is another commonly used term and
can be expressed as a power ratio, p, or as a
ratio of amplitidues, x, as
p1
dB = 10 log10
p2
2

x1
dB = 10 log10
x2
x
dB = 20 log10 1
x2

22.457 Mechanical Vibrations - Chapter 1

17

Dr. Peter Avitabile

Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory

(1.3.3)