Forced Vibration Experiment

Did you know that the Broughton suspension bridge across the River Irwell between

Broughton and Pendelton near Manchester England suffered a catastrophic collapse due to

resonance? Five years into its use in 1831, as 4 columns of soldiers marched “in time” across

the bridge, their synchronized footsteps induced resonance, causing the bridge to bounce

increasingly with their deliberate, playfully timed marching. When the soldiers reached the far

end of the bridge, a part near the other end collapsed, throwing around 40 men into the

thankfully shallow river. It seems the resonance they set up by their synchronized marching

caused high stresses in a major component, causing it to break suddenly. Unfortunately, the

troops realized that the bouncing resonance due to their footsteps was fatal only after the

structure broke and collapsed. Consequent to the incident, the British Army issued an order

that troops should "break step" when crossing a bridge.

Aim: To determine the first two natural frequencies and corresponding damping ratios of a

beam supported at both ends by pinned joints and subjected to transverse vibration.

Theory: If a single degree of freedom system having natural frequency 𝜔𝑛 is excited by a

harmonic force x(t) = Acosw t , then the response is

y(t) = Acos(w t - f ) = AH(w )cosw t , (1)

where 𝐻(𝜔) is the dynamic magnification factor with magnitude given by

1
H (w ) =
(1- h ) + (2zh)
2 2
2

(2)

Here h = frequency ratio /n

 = damping ratio
 1
At resonance H (w ) = Q = (for small values of ). The ratios h1 and h2 , for which the
2z

amplitude of H(w ) is Amax 2 as shown in Fig. 1 are called half power frequency ratios and

it can be shown that

1 wn
Q= = (3)
2z w 2 - w 1

where w 2 and w 1 are the frequencies corresponding to h2 and h1 .

Fig. 1 Forced vibration response

Experimental Setup and Test Procedure

A schematic is of the test setup is shown in Fig. 2. A discrete sinusoidal input with a fixed

amplitude and frequency is given by the function generator to the electrodynamic exciter to

excite the beam at a specific location, ensuring that the vibration of the beam is not driven into

the nonlinear range. If the output current supplied by the function generator is small, it may

have to be amplified by a power amplifier before being fed into the exciter coil. Care should

be taken to ensure that the coil is not overdriven. The electrodynamic exciter is the most

common type of shaker. The excitation is called stepped sine since the command signal

frequency is stepped from one discrete value to another in the entire frequency range such as

to provide the necessary frequency resolution in the output or FRF plot. The excitation
frequency should not be changed abruptly; sufficient time should be given for the system to

settle down to the steady-state condition. Especially near resonance, or if one is measuring

lightly damped or closely spaced modes, care should be taken to avoid transient effects.

4 9

5 6
o/p
7

i/p

1. Capacitance probe 2. Electrodynamic shaker 3. B eam support

4. Pinned pinned beam 5. Displacement measuring unit 6. Rms voltmeter
7. Oscilloscope 8. F unction generator 9. P inned joint
Fig. 2 Test setup

The major advantage with stepped sine excitation is that it gives flexibility in choosing the

frequency resolution. This method has the advantage that one can measure with a high

frequency resolution around resonance and lower resolution away from resonance. This

technique is useful for large, complex structures and for cases with high background noise.

The vibration is sensed by a non-contact type capacitance pick-up, nodal locations of vibration

being avoided for excitation as well as sensing. The change in vibration amplitude is converted

into a proportional voltage by a displacement measuring unit and the voltage is measured using
an RMS voltmeter. The exciter input and the capacitance pick up output are connected to a

dual channel oscilloscope. The frequency of excitation is varied using the function generator

and the output voltage for each frequency is noted. An RMS voltmeter also gives readings in

terms of dB. The dB values at the half power frequencies would be 3 dB below the value

measured at the natural frequency. The frequency is varied in small steps near the resonance

(with a fine frequency resolution of 0.1 Hz or so). A graph of voltage versus frequency is

plotted. The half power frequencies are identified and damping ratio is calculated. The

procedure is repeated for the second mode. The dimensions of the beam are to be noted for the

analytical validation.

Principle of Electrodynamic Shaker:

The force provided by the shaker is given by the equation

F = Bil (4)

where F is the force produced in N, B is the magnetic flux density in Wb/m2, i is the current

through the coil in A and l is the length of conductor cutting the flux in m.

Fig. 3 Electrodynamic exciter (a) Schematic drawing, (b) Photograph (Courtesy of Saraswati
Dynamics Pvt. Ltd. India)
Capacitance Pick-Up/Condenser Vibrometer: The capacitance transducer is a passive, non-

contact type of vibrometer. With the capacitive principle, the sensor and target operate like the

two plate electrodes of an ideal parallel plate capacitor. This parallel plate transducer (Fig. 4)
works on the principle that the reactance of an ideal plate capacitor is inversely proportional to

the distance between the plates. Its capacitance, C in pF is given as:

C = 0.00886  A / d (5)

where d is the distance between plates (mm), A is the overlapping area (mm2) and  is the

dielectric constant (1.0006 for air).

From this equation, it is seen that the capacitance is dependent on the three quantities

mentioned above. By varying any of these quantities and measuring the capacitance, we can

find out the effect of change of that quantity. Variation in spacing of the parallel plates is often

used for motion detection if the change in spacing is less than the electrode size and gives a

conveniently large value of capacitance at small spacing. Signal conditioning is required to

compensate for the parabolic capacitance-displacement relationship and this is easily done by

measuring impedance rather than capacitance. The capacitance transducer is generally used for

measurements in air and special care should be taken for measurements in liquids.

Fig. 4 Capacitance transducer: (a) schematic, (b) photograph of transducer with measuring
unit, (c) close up of transducer (Courtesy of http://www.micro-epsilon.co.uk)

Analytical Validation: The experimental results obtained may be verified from the closed

form expression for the natural frequencies of beams given by

 EI
w n = ( bn l)2
rl 4 (6)
Here  is the mass per unit length of the beam, EI is the flexural rigidity, l is the length, n is

the mode number and b n depends on the boundary conditions of the beam. For a simply

supported beam, ( b1l) 2 = 2 and ( b1l) 2 = 39.5.

Questions

1.) What will happen if the stinger does not make contact with the beam?

2.) Will the natural frequencies and damping ratios change for other boundary

conditions?

3.) How do you decide on the force input to the beam?

4.) How will the first natural frequency of an aluminium beam compare with that of a

mild steel beam having the same dimensions? Why?

5.) What is the difficulty in measuring damping ratio of a lightly damped mode?

6.) Why should you avoid nodal points for placement of the exciter or transducer?

7.) Why is there a discrepancy between the measured and computed values of natural

frequencies?