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
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
(1.1.7)
(1.1.8)
Periodic Motion
[Link] (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
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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
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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
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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
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Dr. Peter Avitabile
Modal Analysis & Controls Laboratory
(1.3.3)
