Vibration and Noise

control
Lecture 4:Free Vibration – Single Degree
of Freedom (SDOF) systems

Semester 1, 2024/2025
Basic Concepts of Vibration

• Any motion that repeats itself after an interval of

time is called vibration or oscillation.
• example:
• The swinging of a pendulum and the motion of a
plucked Spring

• The theory of vibration deals with the study of

oscillatory motions of bodies and the forces
associated with them.
Newton’s || Law

Io
Elementary Parts of Vibrating
Systems

• means for storing potential energy

(spring).
• means for storing kinetic energy (mass or
inertia),
• means by which energy is gradually lost
(damper).
Example:
• Derive the equation of motion of the pendulum in
Figure
Free body Diagram
 Solution
• Sketch the structure or part of interest
• Write down all the forces and make a “free body
diagram
• Use Newton’s Law and/or Euler’s Law to find the
equations of motion

¨𝜃
Solution

• The problem is one dimensional, hence a

scalar equation results

¨
𝜃(𝑡)
• Here the over dots denote differentiation with respect to time t,
• This is a second-order, nonlinear ordinary differential equation We
can linearize the equation by using the approximation
Solution

Requires knowledge of:

θ (0) : Initial Position

(0) : Initial Velocity
 Mass Spring Model
• The nature of the spring force can be deduced by performing a
simple static experiment.
• With no mass attached, the spring stretches to the position
labeled x0 = 0
• As successively more mass is attached to the spring, the
force of gravity causes the spring to stretch further. the plot of
the force versus displacement, denoted by x, yields a curve

remember lab
session!
 Stiffness Element: Spring
• Spring Force is Linear and proportional to the
displacement
 Stiffness Element
• Many Objects/structures behave like springs: i.e. Displacement is
proportional to force

• In Fact, static measurement of deflections and forces can be used to

measure the effective” spring constant”
Single-Degree-of-Freedom
System
• Many systems can vibrate in more than one manner and
direction.
• We can use a single-degree-of-freedom system:

• If a system is constrained so that it can vibrate in only one

mode or manner,
• if only one independent coordinate is required to specify
completely the geometric location of the masses of the system
in space,
Example 1: Spring-Mass System

The system is said to have a single degree-of-freedom,

because it has only one mass and the variable x(t) is enough
to describe the motion.

Equation of Motion:
Or, in another form:
Free Body Diagram of a spring-mass system
Newton’s || Law:

• m=-kx(t) m+kx(t) =0

• 2nd order ordinary differential equation !

Vibration is an interaction
• Vibration is caused by the interaction of two different forces one
related to position (stiffness) and one related to acceleration (mass).

Proportional to displacement
• Stiffness (k)

• Mass (m)

Proportional to acceleration
Remember:
 The solution to 2nd order DEs
• One of the goals of vibration analysis is to predict the response,or
motion, of a vibrating system. Thus, it is desirable to calculate the
solution to Equation

• For now, it is sufficient to present a solution based on physical

observation
The solution to 2nd order DEs

• Lets assume a solution:

• Differentiating twice gives:

• Substituting back into the equations of motion gives:

Initial Conditions

If a system is vibrating then we must assume that something must

have (in the past) transferred energy into to the system and caused it
to move. For example:

the mass could have been moved a distance x0 and then released at
t = 0 (i.e. given Potential energy) or given an initial velocity v0 (i.e.
given Kinetic energy) or Some combination of the two above cases
From our earlier solution, we know that:

x 0  x (0)  A sin(n 0   )  A sin( )

v 0  (0)  n A cos(n 0   )  n A cos( )
 Initial Conditions

Solving these equations gives:

Slope
x(t) here is v 0
1 n2 x 2 v 2
0
x0 n 0

t
x0


n v0
n
The phase Φ must lie in the proper quadrant, so care
must be taken in evaluating the arc tangent
Summary of simple harmonic motion
The total solution for the spring-mass
system is

 n2 x 20  v 02 sin  n t  1 n x 0  (1.10)
x (t ) 
 n tan  v0 

• This solution is called the free response of the system

because no force external to the system is applied after
t = 0.

• The motion of the spring-mass system is called simple

harmonic motion or oscillatory motion
Example 1.1.3
Wheel, tire suspension m =30 kg, frequency= 10 Hz, what is k ?
 Solution
Wheel, tire suspension m =30 kg, frequency= 10 hz, what is k ?

k  m n 30 kg  10 cylce 2 rad   1.18410 N/m

2 5

 sec cylce 


There are of course more complex models of suspension systems

and these appear later in the course as our tools develop
Example 1.1.4

• Compute the amplitude and phase of the

response of a system with a mass of 2 kg and a
stiffness of 200 N/m, to the following initial
conditions:
• x0 = 2 mm and v0 = 1 mm/s
Solution

• First, compute the natural frequency, as this

does not depend on the initial conditions and will
be the same in each case.

• Next, compute the amplitude, as it depends on the

squares of the initial conditions and will be the same in
each case
Solution
Try now for the following initial
conditions
Solution
Example
• Determine the natural frequency of the systems
illustrated in Figure
Solution
Exercise
Determine the natural frequency of the systems illustrated in
Figure
Solution
Example:
• Write the differential equations for the
mechanical systems shown in the figures.
First : Important note

• The key is to draw the Free Body Diagram (FBD) in order

to keep the signs right.
• For (a), to identify the direction of the spring forces on
the object, let x2 = 0 and fixed and increase x1 from 0.
• Then the k1 spring will be stretched producing its spring
force to the left and the k2 spring will be compressed
producing its spring force to the left also.
• You can use the same technique on the damper forces
and the other mass.
Solution
Solution
y

k3(x2 – y )
Solution.

F
 Exercise
• Find the equation of motion for the system of Figure, and find the
natural frequency.
Solution
in
 Example
• When designing a linear spring-mass system it is often a matter of choosing a
spring constant such that the resulting natural frequency has a specified value.
Suppose that the mass of a system is 5 kg and the stiffness is 100 N/m. How much
must the spring stiffness be changed to increase the natural frequency by 20%?
 Solution

20%
Relationship between Displacement, Velocity and
Acceleration
A=1, n=12
1
Displacement
x (t )  A sin(n t 0

x
 ) -1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
20
Velocity

x (t )  n A cos(n t   )
v

0
-20

Acceleration 200

 2A
x(t ) n
t  ) 0
a

n
sin(
 -200
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (sec)
Note how the relative magnitude of each increases for n>1
A
A

A
Exercise:
• The acceleration of a machine part modeled as a spring–mass
system is measured and recorded in the Figure. Compute the
amplitude of the displacement of the mass.
 Solution
• the maximum amplitude of the acceleration versus time plot is just
where A is the maximum amplitude of the displacement and the quantity to be determined here.

not that the plot repeats itself twice after 2.5 s, So:
T = 2.5/2 = 1.25 s.
• Also the plot has 1 m/as its maximum value.

=1
Exercise
• A spring-mass system has a measured period of 8 s and a known
mass of 15 kg. Calculate the spring stiffness
Solution
Other Examples of SDoF Deformable
Systems

I
 Important Notes

The natural frequency :

Example
A pendulum in Brussels swings with a period of 3
seconds.
A. Compute the length of the pendulum. Given 2
g=9.811 m/
B. At another location, assume the length of the
pendulum is known to be 2 meters and suppose
the period is measured to be 2.839 seconds.
What is the acceleration due to gravity at that
location?
Solution:

• A. 2.236 m

• B.
Example:
An automobile wheel and tire are suspended by a steel rod 0.50 cm in diameter and 2m
long as shown in the figure. When the wheel is given an angular displacement and
released, it makes 10 oscillations in 30.2s. Determine the mass moment of inertia of the
wheel and tire. The torsional stiffness of the rod is given by the equation
GI p d 4
K Ip 
l 32
, where Ip (Polar moment of inertia of the circular rod), l = length, and G = 80 x 109
N/m2 (shear modulus of steel)
Solution

 M I
 k  I
  k 0
I
2 k
wn 
I
Solution
wn 2f , where f cycles
s
wn 2 10  30.2
2.08rad / s
Torsional Stiffness:
  * (0.005) 4 
9
(80 x10 ) *  
GI p  32 
k 
l 2
k 2.45 N m / rad

k 2.45 2
I 2  0 .566 kg m
wn (2.08) 2
 Example
For the pendulum connected to a spring as illustrated, ignore the
mass of the pendulum’s rod and derive the equation of motion. Then
linearize the equation of motion and compute the formula for the
natural frequency. Assume that the rotation is small enough so that
the spring only deflects horizontally.
Solution:
Solution
 Exercise

• A foot pedal mechanism for a machine is

crudely modeled as a pendulum connected to a
spring as illustrated in Figure. The purpose of
the spring is to provide a return force for the
pedal action.
• Compute the spring stiffness needed to keep
the pendulum at 1° from the horizontal
• Compute the corresponding natural
frequency.

-Assume that the angular deflections are small, such that

the arc length can approximate the spring deflection;
that the pedal may be treated as a point mass; and that
pendulum rod has negligible mass. The pedal is
horizontal when the spring is at its free length. The
values in the figure
 Solution
• For static equilibrium the sum of moments about point O yields (𝜃1 is the static
deflection):

K
1
 Solution

• Again taking moments Next using equation (1) above for the static deflection
yields:
I K

• Next using equation (1) above for the static deflection yields: